Agricultural extension is the process or system or service which assists farmers or farm people through educational processes in improving farming methods and techniques. In other words, Agricultural extension is the process whereby the beneficial products of research are taken to the farmers and the problems of farmers taken to research institutions for solution.
Agricultural extension programmes are the media or channels through which new ideas and techniques are disseminated to rural farmers. In other words, they are bodies or agencies which have extension service unit that can teach and train extension workers on the job to approve their daily extension services so that they will be able to transfer these innovations to the rural farmers (Iwena, 1998).
Before the leadership structure as it concerns extension programmes in Nigeria can be known, there is need for knowledge of the extension programmes in Nigeria.
According to Salawu et al (2008), agricultural extension programmes in Nigeria can be categorized into two groups which include:
• Government-organized extension programmes and
• Extension programmes organized and sponsored by private agencies
Government organized extension programmes and their years of establishment include the:
National Accelerated Food Production Project, NAFPP (1972), Agricultural Development Projects, ADP (1975), Accelerated Development Area Project, ADAP (1982), Multi-State Agricultural Development Projects, MSADP (1986), Operation Feed the Nation Programme, OFN (1976), River Basin Development Authority, RBDA (1973), The Green Revolution Programme, GRP (1980), The Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure, DFRRI (1986), The National Directorate of Employment, NDE (1986), The Nigeria Agricultural Insurance Scheme, NAIS (1987), The National Fadama Development Project, NFDP (1992), The Poverty Alleviation Programme, PAP (2000), National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy, NEEDS (2004), and the
References: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2010 Supporting programmes for food security; www.fao.org/spfs/national-programmes-spfs/nationalprogrammes-food-sec-npfs/en/ Iwena, O.A., 1998 Agricultural Extension Programmes in West Africa, Essential Agricultural Science for Senior Secondary Schools; PP 400 - 401 National Information directory, 2009 National Directorate of Employment; directory-nigeria.org/national-directorate-of-employment.html