How might extension agents play a role in averting or resolving conflicts, or in other steps that help build peace and reduce violence?
Extension agents provide information to their clients by either teaching what they know or putting farmers in touch with other specialists who can solve their problems. Agents in a conflict or post-conflict environment could be expected to provide access to experts in the different problems that confront such farming communities. The USIP-NAE Roundtable’s work has focused on four specific peacebuilding problems that have natural ties to the work of agricultural extension agents. They are 1) disputes over land and water; 2) conflict over access between pastoralists and agriculturalists; 3) returning internally displaced persons (IDPs) to rural communities; and 4) reintegrating demobilized soldiers into farming communities. The agents would not be expected to step into a dispute and try to resolve it. Instead, they would diagnose the problem and then work with the appropriate experts to develop a solution.