tially of the same culture as their eventual clients. They had to

pretensions of superiority over the farmers.1

 Governments also supported scientific research. As agricultural

science advanced, the character of these extension systems also changed.

More communications flowed from scientists to farmers. Highly special-

ized extension personnel was needed to carry these communications.

However, this new flow of information was injected to a system which

already had farmer participation and control.

 In other regions of the world, extension services were created as

part of the rural programs of colonial administrators. In the British,

French, and Dutch colonies of Africa and Asia, extension programs were

designed to provide supplies of desired commodities--indigo, tea, coffee,

rubber, cocoa, peanuts, sugar, etc. To fit this need, many research and

extension systems were oriented toward a single specific commodity. In

many cases these organizations continued after independence to maximize

foreign exchange earnings. The British-American Tobacco Company which

functioned in China and other places, the Kenya Tea Authority, the Jute

Ministry in Bangladesh, the Rubber Research Institute in Malaysia and the
crop-specific "operation" or societies for cotton, peanuts, cocoa,

coffee, etc. in the Sahelian countries of Africa are all examples of

this tendency. These types of parastatal agencies normally have some

applied research to determine a suitable "package" to grow the commodity.

The extension agencies then distribute the required inputs (seeds, ferti-

lizer, insecticide) and credit to buy them, offer highly detailed field

management instructions, and then purchase from the farmers the produce,

carefully graded for quality, at a price which normally is fairly low.


 K. Robert Kerr and Robert Crom, "Putting Innovative Technology to
 Work in Agriculture," Mimeo, Ames, Iowa, May 1979.