From Extension to Communication for Innovation 231the farmers’ behaviour, rather than that of a consultant or facilitator. Similarly, the
role of the client is different in persuasive forms of communicative intervention.
Usually people do not ask to be persuaded in a specific direction, so farmers are
more at the receiving end than the demanding end. Although persuasive transfer
has become increasingly unpopular in discussions of communicative intervention,
persuasive transfer of innovations still exists widely. Often this form of interven-
tion is based on local or national policy decisions (e.g. to increase cotton produc-
tion, or reduce the use of pesticides), or an earlier interactive process in which
stakeholders agreed on the promotion of certain behaviour changes.
In this section we have tried to unravel different types of communication serv-
ices and strategies, distinguished mainly on the basis of their underlying interven-
tion goal and not on the basis of their method. In practice, several intervention
goals can play a role within particular activities, in which case the distinction is
more analytical than practical. In other cases these types of services can be associ-
ated with specific activities. In any case, the distinction is important in that it may
help communication workers and their organizations to think about what their
mission and mandate is or should be.
Agricultural Knowledge Systems and Other Extension-
related Concepts
The term ‘agricultural extension’ refers not only to a professional practice, but also
to an area of study which has generated knowledge and insight and can be studied
in agricultural colleges and universities. In this section we clarify several terms used
in connection with this, and also propose alternative terms in view of our wish to
move away from the concept of ‘extension’.
Agricultural knowledge systems
Conventional extension organizations have always been looked upon as playing a
role among other institutions, functions and actors who are active in the area of
agricultural knowledge, such as universities, strategic research, stations for applied
research, farmers, agribusiness, agricultural magazines, agricultural schools and col-
leges etc. This collection of actors is often referred to as the agricultural knowledge
and information system (AKIS) (Röling, 1989; Engel, 1995; FAO and World Bank,
2000). For a long time the role of extension and communicative intervention was
looked on as transferring and disseminating ready-made knowledge from research
to farmers, or from ‘early adopters’ to other farmers. This is often referred to as the
‘transfer-of-technology’ model of extension (Chambers et al, 1989), which fits in
with a linear model of innovation. As shown earlier in this chapter, we now look at
the role of communicative intervention in a much broader way. The emphasis is
much more on the facilitation of network building, social learning and conflict