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According to historical documents, potato late blight infested Ireland potato farms that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).
1997 - The enactment of the Agricultural and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA) of
the Philippines through RA 8435. It stipulates major policy interventions to improve the
extension services of the country.
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