Developing participatory extension applications in Turkey

The purpose of extension is to increase the living standard of the farmers and their families in the rural areas. Extension services in Turkey have been implemented mainly by the Ministry of Agriculture since the 1940s and are currently organized by the administrative districts of the Provincial Agricultural Directorates. Agricultural extension approaches in Turkey have been mainly derived from extension applications in different countries and the previous projects of the World Bank and FAO. For that reason Turkey has tremendous experience on the application of agricultural extension approaches from many countries. Agricultural extension activities are implemented by several institutions; each of them has a different legal status. The extension programmes were accepted and implemented using six approaches during different periods in Turkey. During this period the dominant approach was the promotion of technology transfer by the 'general agricultural extension approach' until the 1990s. The 'training and visit approach' has also been used since the 1984s. The common characteristic of these two approaches was the lack of farmers' participation. This was an important detriment to the effectiveness of extension services in Turkey. The implementation of participatory extension approaches was very limited but effective. The contribution of universities, NGO's (e.g. producers' organizations and farmers' unions) and private firms to extension activities were limited. Thus, it will be very useful to apply the participatory approach where rural people have to take the initiative and think about their own problems with appropriate solutions by relevant extension organizations in Turkey.