Smallholder farmers in Malawi account for over 80 percent of the population and if the country is to achieve food
security, poverty reduction and sustainable development attention to agricultural extension is a sine qua non. Since
2000, Malawi introduced extension reforms to better serve the needs of smallholder farmers. Some of the agricultural
and rural development programs are quite complex, but as this study found, training to cope with their sophistication is
lacking. Further, though extension workers are asked to facilitate entire development interventions, their training
remains primarily in agriculture. This paper argues that extension workers need training in Communication for
Development (C4D), an emerging body of knowledge for addressing problems, such as participation, integration and
capacity building for them to relate more effectively with development partners. Thus, this paper proposes a C4D
framework for strengthening extension in Malawi and encourages the Government of Malawi to trial this concept.
Key words: Extension education, pluralistic and demand-driven extension, poverty reduction, sustainable
development, extension theory and policy, communication for development, world bank