Role of extension personnel in strengthening market-led extension: a comprehensive review

Market-Led Extension (MLE) has emerged as a transformative paradigm in agricultural advisory systems that shifting the traditional focus from production enhancement to profitability, value-chain integration and market responsiveness. This review synthesises existing literature to examine the evolving role of extension personnel in strengthening MLE and supporting farmers in navigating modern, market-driven agricultural environments. The study highlights that globalisation, changing consumer preferences, price volatility and the rise of integrated value chains necessitate extension approaches that go beyond technology dissemination and incorporate market intelligence, quality standards, value addition and entrepreneurial capacity. Extension personnel now function as knowledge brokers, innovation intermediaries, market facilitators and capacity builders, enabling farmers to access real-time information, adopt quality-compliant practices, reduce post-harvest losses, and engage effectively with processors, retailers and digital platforms. Evidence from empirical studies demonstrates that interventions related to collective action, digital advisory tools, direct marketing models and post-harvest value addition significantly enhance farmers’ income, bargaining power and competitiveness. Successful case examples further validate the practical potential of MLE-supported initiatives in improving livelihood outcomes and strengthening grassroots agribusiness systems. However, challenges such as limited human resources, infrastructural gaps, inadequate market literacy and fragmented institutional coordination and the fragmented nature of empirical evidence across regions, commodities and institutional contexts which limits cross-comparison and generalization.