Suggesting a new paradigm for agricultural extension policy: the case of West African Countries

As part of a larger study encompassing sub-Saharan Africa, this paper, the second in a sequence of papers, focuses on West Africa. National extension policies of the regionexplicit or impliedwere evaluated by means of a framework published by the FAO to guide extension policy formulation. Of its nine components three anchor the frameworkmission and goals, approach and functions, and clientelesand were used in this appraisal. Unexpectedly, the study found that only one country of the 17 nations constituting West Africa has a legislated (i.e. formally adopted) national extension policy. Implied policies were, therefore, garnered, where feasible, for the rest via government publications (e.g. agricultural project reports) and published researched studies from academic and recognised developmental institutions.