HISTORY OF EXTENSION

Distant Origins

1800 B.C.
- in Mesopotamia (now
Iraq). Unearthed clay
tablets reveal advice on
watering crops and
getting rid of rats.
- Some Egyptian hieroglyphics also
show advice on avoiding crop
damage and loss of life from the
Nile river.
- Similar texts on agricultural advice
dating back to Greek, Phoenicians
and Roman civilizations were
found.
 Birth of Modern Agricultural
Extension Services
According to historical documents, potato
late blight infested Ireland potato farms that
brought vast devastation to the country in
1845.
Earl of Clarendon sent a letter to the
President of the Royal Agricultural
Improvement Society of Ireland requesting
to initiate changes in the cropping system
and husbandry practices of the
impoverished Irish small farmers.
Beginnings of Extension in Europe
1840’s – the term “ university extension” or
“extension of the university was first
recorded in Britain.
1867- 68
-first practical steps to institutionalizing
extension in a college when James Stuart,
Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, gave
lectures to women’s associations and
men’s clubs in North of England.
- James Stuart is often considered to be
the father of university extension.
1871 - Stuart appealed to the
authorities of the University of
Cambridge to organize extension
lectures under the university’s
supervision.
1873 - extension education was
introduced by Cambridge University
in England to describe an educational
innovation done outside the university
1876 - London University
followed Cambridge in
adopting the system

1878 - Oxford University

also adopted the
innovation
1862 - Department of Agriculture and the
Land Grant Universities were established
through federal legislation in the USA.

-Morrill Act, signed by Abraham Lincoln,

provided mechanisms for agricultural
education.

- The Act stipulated that each state would

set aside acreage of federal land and that
income derived from the property would
support a state college or university for
teaching “agriculture and the mechanic
arts”
1887 - the Hatch Act
was instituted to
provide funds for
state agricultural
experiment stations.

Agricultural extension
became widespread
in the USA towards
the end of the 19th
century
The term agricultural extension was
finally adopted in the U.S when the
federal Smith-Lever Act of 1914
called for the establishment of the
Cooperative Extension Service – a
tripartite cooperation of federal, state
and local county governments with
the state college as the extension
agency
-The transfer of the US land grant
model of extension to the Third World
was an offshoot of the US reparation
movement, which aimed at
rehabilitating war-torn ally countries in
the 1950s.
- Agricultural extension was brought by
external assistance with US extension
experts serving as consultants or
advisers to Latin America, African,
and Asian countries.
Extension in the Philippines

Spanish Regime
- Extension work in the Philippines
began as early as 1565 with the
setting up of model farms or Granjas
Modelos by the first Spanish
missionaries in Negros Occidental for
sugarcane, in Pampanga for rice, and
in Isabela for tobacco.
American Regime

October 8, 1901 – beginning of extension

work during the American regime.
April 30, 1902 - Bureau of Agriculture was
established.
July 1910 -The Demonstration and
Extension Division (DED) was established
within the Bureau. DED became the first
formally organized government institute to
implement research and extension
programs.
1929- Bureau of Agriculture was reorganized
and the Bureaus of Plant Industry and
Animal Industry were formed.
- The Agricultural Extension Division was
transferred under the Bureau of Plant
Industry.

1936- Commonwealth Act No. 85 under

president Manuel L. Quezon established
the Provincial Extension services to widen
the reach of extension services.
1942-1945 ( Japanese Occupation)
– Home economics and agricultural
extension works in the provinces
were paralyzed.

1947- Home Extension Unit was fused

with Agricultural Extension Unit of the
Bureau of Plant Industry. The
research function was left to the Plant
Utilization Division.
July 16, 1952- RA No. 680 established the
Bureau of Agricultural Extension (BAEx).
- This move is based on the Bell Report
which recommended the consolidation of
scattered extension services provided by
the different government bureaus.
- BAEx became responsible for all the
extension activities of the Department of
Agriculture and Natural Resources.
1963 - Republic Act
No. 3844 or the
Agricultural Land
Reform Code was
signed into law and
BAEx was renamed
Agricultural
Productivity
Commission (APC).
May 2, 1973- Masagana 99 Program
was launched. Under the program
research results generated in
experiment stations and applied
research conducted in farmers’ fields
were put together in a 16-simple-step
package of production technology.
1982 - EO No. 803 established an integrated
management system for agricultural
services and inputs.
- The province was designated as the
political unit of management for inducing
agricultural development, coordination &
supervision of operations of various
agencies involved in the delivery of
agricultural services.
- the Integrated Agricultural Research
Stations (RIARS) were established to
provide technical support to the extension
workers.
1987 – creation of Agricultural Training
Institute thru EO no 116

- BAEx together with the Philippine

Agricultural Training Council (PATC)
were merged into the Agricultural
Training Institute (ATI).
1991 – Devolution of Agricultural
Extension. The Local Government
Code thru Republic Act No. 7160
aims to ensure the delivery of basic
services in the agricultural extension
system.
-The authority to manage and
supervise the agricultural extension in
the country was decentralized to the
local government units (LGUs).
 GOD BLESS YOU!!!
TRUST IN THE LORD
WITH ALL YOUR
HEART AND LEAN
NOT ON YOUR OWN
UNDERSTANDING, IN
ALL YOUR WAYS
ACKNOWLEDGE HIM
AND HE WILL CROWN
YOUR EFFORTS WITH
SUCCESS. Proverbs
3:5-6