In recent years, many public extension services, especially in Latin America, have been eliminated or seen their funding cut drastically.These cuts were caused by a combination of budgetary pressures and perceptions that the extension services were not particularly effective.As a result of these and other inadequacies in publicly supported extension systems, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are increasingly involved in agricultural extension. NGOs exist outside financial support from governments, with support from private individuals and groups in other countries or on private local support. In addition, private firms that sell products such as improved seeds and chemicals are heavily involved in technology transfer associated with their specific products.