ABSTRACT
When the ISWC 2 programme commenced in Tigray in 1997, it found itself in the midst of streams of two different traditions of extension, one coming from the previously centralized system of technology transfer practised by the national government and one from the extension activities during the struggle led by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) against the Communist Derg regime in Ethiopia. During the 17 years of civil war, the TPLF had built up its own system of agricultural extension in the liberated areas, focusing on disseminating the practices of good farmers who were making the most of local resources. The experience of the farmer innovation approach promoted by ISWC 2 in Tigray can be understood only in the context of this history of agricultural extension during and after the struggle for liberation.
