This core competency handbook is timely in the current context as it could elucidate multiple roles of extension in agriculture and rural development. Demands of several stakeholders on extension are increasing and so is the demand for enhanced capacities of extension professionals. Suvedi and Kaplowitz, the authors of this handbook, have identified core skills necessary for agriculture extension field level professionals to improve their capacity to address the emerging problems of the farming communities.

The book has nine chapters. The first chapter contains a brief history of extension services. The narration includes the evolution in extension approaches from the TOT of yesteryears to the present day demand-driven participatory and pluralistic extension. There must be a change in the mindset of the extension professionals to focus not only on technology transfer but also to deal with several challenges the farmers are encountering in their endeavour to increase the agricultural production and income from farming.