MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE,
FORESTRY AND FISHERIES

EXTENSION SERVICES
Agricultural Extension - 100 years of Service

Traditionally, the majority of rural people produce food using traditional methods for the families. To satisfy the increasing demand for agricultural products from a rapidly growing population involved in non-agricultural activities,  require a more intensive and productive use of land. To achieve this farmers must have access to agricultural education, the necessary production supplies and marketing.

The  term extension was first used in the 1880’s in connection with the spread of  knowledge from the University of Cambridge in England to adult factory and office workers who were unable to receive formal university education. Though the early extension teaching was not concerned with agriculture, it featured elements common to modern agricultural extension programmes.

In St. Lucia the extension service was established in the late 1890’s and was  called "Agricultural Work and Instruction in the Country District". The first  officer, George S Hudson, was called "Agricultural Instructor". He was appointed  to the service on November 1, 1899 at which time the name of the Botanic Gardens was  changed to the Botanic Department of St.Lucia.

The Gardens functioned as an experiment station and was responsible for the  introduction, cultivation and distribution of exotic plants of economic value.

The instructor’s duties were:
  To carry out agricultural work and instruction in country districts for total rural  development
  To supervise the department’s experimental works in the country districts.

Most of the development occurring in agriculture at that time was concerned with estates, with some benefits to small holders.

The term extension was first used in St. Lucia in 1958 during the post war reconstruction. This was accompanied by the formation of Ministries and departments, thus  changing the duties of the extension service, which was now responsible solely for agricultural development.

Increased recognition of the small holders as an economic force led to the employment  of peasant agricultural instructors, and a programme of apprenticeship for field workers was conducted at Union College, St. Lucia. Though some modifications have been made to this  programme, today it is continued at the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College.

The function of these instructors was to travel to the various agricultural districts, instructing farmers in the methods of plant propagation and improved cultural practices.  The subsequent establishment of regional institutions like Eastern Caribbean Institute of  Agriculture and Forestry and the development of an agricultural programme at the  University of the West Indies, Trinidad, made it possible to upgrade the instructors who today are known as Agricultural Assistants.

At independence, St. Lucia inherited an agricultural administration aimed primarily at increasing export production for Europe and gathering statistics.

Post independence there was a tendency to modify the organisation  in order to serve the diverse needs of the communities with other ministries also playing a part in the uncoordinated rural development of St. Lucia.

Roles of Agricultural Extension
The effectiveness of extension methods can be slow and not always tangible and therefore difficult to evaluate and understand. The officer is an advisor, an educator, a  technician and a middleman between agricultural research institutions and the farm  families

Staffing
The Chief Extension Officer who supervises the Senior  Agricultural Assistants and the Specialist Staff heads of  the division. A Senior Agricultural Assistant manages the programmme implementation in each of the eight regions. They are assisted by Area Officers who implements the Ministry’s programme in the various areas of the region. The Specialist Staff assists the regional staff and  supervises the implementation of the programme for their area of specialty.

Achievements of the Division:
Increased domestic food crop production, namely legumes, sweet potatoes, yams and  vegetables. The SFAD project and the Import Substitution programme contributed greatly to the success of these programmes.

Increased export crop production with contributions from:
    Rehabilitation of the Coconut Industry and the establishment of copra kilns on a  communal
       basis
    Rehabilitation of the Banana Industry. MOA Extension was responsible for the agronomic  and
       cultural practices. Harvesting and marketing was the responsibility of the SLBGA.  By the late
       1980’s the SLBGA Extension Staff became more involved in agronomic and cultural practices.
       Recommendations from WINBAN to inter-crop of legumes,  corn, sweet potatoes with bananas,
       which has been the main agricultural income earner for the past 20 years, also contributed to
       increased domestic crop production
    Expansion of the mango, citrus and avocado cultivation through the tree crop project
    Rehabilitation of the Cocoa cultivation for export to World Finest Chocolates who show
       preference to St. Lucian cocoa as a blending cocoa
    Development of the ginger industry

The Ministry, with the assistance of the extension division initiated the establishment  of commodity cooperatives such as SLBGA, CGA, SLAA, STAFCOP and credit societies.

Technological transfer is an integral part of the extension process, involving the transfer and spread of farming information from the researcher via subject matter specialist and the extension worker to the farmers. The Research and Development Division in the  Department of Agriculture, CARDI, IICA have controlled the research vehicle and the French Mission. Feedback from the farmer through the extension worker to the researcher has resulted in the development of the Hartley Fork, the cassava grinding machine, the introduction of greenhouses and the like. The  retraining and retooling of extension to improve the delivery of extension was carried out in the 1980’s by the Caribbean Agricultural Extension Project.

The Extension Division consists of the foot soldiers of the Ministry of Agriculture  that offer technical support for all agricultural industries. Today all departments who come into contact with the farming community have an extension arm (Forestry, Fisheries and Livestock). This calls for greater coordination of activities by these units for rural development.

Looking  Forward

    Increased public sector and general public understanding of the extension environment.
    The development of official linkages between Community Development, Tourism, Health and
       Agriculture for efficient rural development.
    Public sector extension planning to positioning the Division to make the  most effective use of
       its resources without adversely affecting other functions of management.
    Reorientation of programme focus, establishing targets for achieving self-reliance in local
       production and the development of selected export crops .
  Increased consultation with extension staff during the sector planning since they can provide
       information on the willingness of the farming community to participate in the programme, the
       availability of conditions and resources for production. Programming with increased clientele
       involvement.
    Promotion of grassroots education and training in the use of local material to promote
       employment and enhance self-reliance.
    The recognition of extension as a profession by Administrative and field  managers and
       officers with the capacity to have a positive impact on rural development.
    Increased accountability in the profession.
    The upgrade management skills of staff by developing structures to enable staff to gain
       experiences in farm business management on their private farms thus  empowering them to
       demonstrate to farmers the business approach to farming.
  The establishment of Caribbean Extension Network for sharing information, in-service training
       joint programming and so on, maximizing the human resource potential within its own structure.

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