International Journal of Agriculture Extension and Social Development

author(s)
Guduro Beriso Ware

abstract
Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy, accounting for 38.5% of the gross domestic product (GDP) and 85% of the population’s livelihood. An agricultural extension strategy is a practice used to increase the market share for a given product or service and thus keep it in the maturity phase of the marketing product lifecycle rather than going into decline. The overall objective of this is paper to review on Agricultural Extension strategies in Ethiopia: past and present. The paper is based on a review of the literature and analysis of data collected from different part of Ethiopia. The historical and theoretical of extension strategies have been reviewed. During the previous two regimes in Ethiopia (the Imperial and the Derg military regime), a centralized administrative system prevailed, where planning and implementation of agricultural extension and rural development activities followed a top-down path. The various extension strategies have been biased against. Know a day agricultural extension has been emphasized by development experts as crucial in achieving agricultural development, poverty reduction, and food security. By recognizing this, the government of Ethiopia has made great efforts to transform the agricultural sector mainly by strengthening its agricultural extension strategies as part of the general agriculture policy reform. In spite of considerable efforts made to improve the extension strategies of the country in the past, the system is not bringing the desired results. Thus, it is of paramount importance to prepare a full-fledged extension strategy which takes into consideration the growing demand of agricultural development and that also shows the future direction of the extension services.