Agri service Ethiopia

Formal research in Ethiopia has celebrated 50 years of its existence which was marked by the Golden Jubilee of the Alemaya University that was celebrated in October 2004. Research and extension in the country were supported by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) which emerged in the aftermath of the 1973/74 famine, widely known as ‘the great famine'. In recent years, the number of NGOs involved in the rural sector alone is estimated to be a couple of hundreds. In addition, there were several parastatal organizations, projects and programs that were directly or indirectly geared towards rural development. On top of these, the government, was and is, still making its level best to improve the rural sector. In spite of all these efforts, a close look into the sector shows persistence and, in some cases, aggravation of the problems of the sector. At times, the very efforts initiated to overcome problems of the rural sector tend to create different categories of beneficiaries to perpetuate the interventions, which is contrary to the actual intentions. The current paper looks into the challenges and prospects in linking research with development. In this connection the paper discusses the concept of research utilization and examines factors that influence utilization of agricultural research findings. The paper concludes by identifying key pitfalls and opportunities in the process of linking research with development in general and in the research and extension systems of Ethiopia in particular.