---

Ethiopia´s agricultural policy focuses on commercializing subsistence agriculture through capacity building of various actors, development and adoption of high yielding technologies, and sustainable use of natural resources. This book analyses impacts of agricultural policies on smallholder irrigation innovations. The study findings revealed that policy implementation is dominated by top-down approaches reflected in highly centralised planning and blanket intervention processes and these have restricted the innovation capacity of smallholders. This book has essential concepts and practical policy lessons on how to enhance rural innovations and should be especially useful to agricultural extension professionals, communication workers, policy makers and researchers.

---

Berhane Hailu, MSc in Development and Rural Innovation at Wageningen University, the Netherlands; MSc in Agronomy from the former Soviet Union. The author is a Senior Development Expert in Helvetas Ethiopia.

---