Bridging the Gap a Review of Extension Approaches for Enhancing Vegetable Farmers' Knowledge and Practices
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.48165/asl.2026.2.02.07Keywords:
Vegetable, production, knowledge, intensiveAbstract
Vegetable production is knowledge-intensive: yields, food safety, and pesticide-related health risks all depend on farmers accessing and applying up-to-date agronomic information. This review synthesizes evidence on extension approaches used to build vegetable farmers' knowledge and practices, spanning conventional group- and individual-contact methods, Farmer Field Schools (FFS), and digital or ICT-based advisory services. Evidence from Farmer Field School evaluations, mobile advisory programmes, and vegetable-specific knowledge surveys in South and Southeast Asia and West Africa shows that extension contact reliably raises farmer knowledge, but the knowledge-to-practice gap remains wide, and gains from any single approach tend to fade over time without reinforcement. The review closes with a discussion of integrated extension models and the persistent barriers that limit reach, particularly for smallholder, women, and elderly vegetable farmers.
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