"Over recent decades, central governments of most countries have curtailed their direct involvement in agricultural extension," states Blum et al. in one of two articles on extension featured in this edition of e-ifc. Why were these agencies involved in the first place? These days, governments and donors once more share the view which was so prevailing in the past - that agriculture is a mainstay of rural and also urban livelihoods. As the first decade of the 21st century draws to a close, it is now clear that agricultural research and rural extension are essential to worldwide food security and are back on the development agenda. In this edition, we are pleased to provide a general analysis of extension (Blum et al.), as well as a more specific story about the Bulgarian Extension Service during the last 20 years (Nikolova and Donchev).
Also featured in this issue is a preliminary report from Hungary on "Rootstock Efficiency in Nutrient Uptake and Utilization in a High Density Cherry Orchard Experiment". In addition, as always, we bring you updates of events, new scientific publications and more.
Finally, a message to all our veteran Potash Review readers: We recently completed the scanning of all Potash Review publications from 1956-1995. These legacy documents are now available on the IPI website, and can be searched by title, author, year and theme. We also have a free search which will search through the full text of each document in the database. No more dusty forgotten papers... now this database is available to all.
I wish you an enjoyable read and all the best for a prosperous 2011.
