Communication for Development as a Strategy to Enhance Agricultural Extension Performance in Turkey

Abstract

Turkey dating back to the 1930s, has experimented with varying agricultural extension models combined with huge financial investments, to transform her nearly four million smallholder farmers but with limited results. This study of 98 extension professionals in the East Mediterranean Region of Turkey found that many extension workers are primarily trained in the agricultural sciences. Their roles as facilitators of integrated rural development also require training in development and communication, otherwise known as “Communication for Development” (C4D) as it would strengthen their performance. The World Bank, in its 2007 report, World Congress on Communication for Development: Lessons, Challenges, and the Way Forward, strongly recommends C4D as a strategy for addressing human dimension concerns, such as local participation, interagency collaboration and capacity building, which are the main issues facing extension in this newly industrializing nation. Therefore, communication for development (C4D) is recommended as a strategy for improving extension performance in Turkey and offers a model for mainstreaming it in extension programming.