Vol.11(10), pp. 162-168 October 2019 DOI: 10.5897/JAERD2019.1073 Articles Number: 788EAA361851 ISSN: 2141-2170 Copyright ©2019 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article http://www.academicjournals.org/JAERD Journal of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development Review Review on market re-orientation of extension services for value chain development in Borno State, Nigeria Mwada Musa GWARY 1* , Alhaji Abba MAKINTA 2 and Rahila Christopher WAKAWA 3 1 Department of Agricultural Extension Services, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Maiduguri, Nigeria. 2 Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Maiduguri, Nigeria. 3 Science Policy and Innovations Studies (SPIS) Department, National Centre for Technology Management (NACETEM), Abuja, Nigeria. Received 28 June, 2019; Accepted 21 August, 2019 Hitherto the primary focus of agricultural extension in Borno State has been to ensure increasing agricultural production for food security. However, the current emphasis is on enhancing rural incomes through market re-orientation. This change was necessitated by the realization that subsistence food production can no longer provide for a decent living and therefore increased engagement in commercial food production and markets has become a necessity and reality for the rural farmers. The paper explored the significance of agricultural extension in improving the marketing system in Borno State with focus on how market-oriented agricultural advisory services (MOAAS) could assist in addressing the marketing constraints faced by actors along the value chains and plethora of agricultural marketing bottlenecks in the state. To avail value chain actors of required information and extension services and enable them take advantage of market opportunities entails the need for the adoption of market-led extension approach by the Borno State Agricultural Development Programme (BOSADP); the pursuance of deliberate and conscious strategy for pro-poor MOAAS and Borno State government as a matter of policy undertake the recruitment and deployment of market-oriented extension workers and engage in capacity building to develop the marketing skills of the existing staff. Key words: Market re-orientation, extension services, value chain development, marketing extension. INTRODUCTION The primary focus of agricultural extension today unlike the situation before should no longer be on increasing production but rather on enhancing rural incomes through market-orientation and responding to farmers’ demand (Christoplos, 2010). The agricultural environment is changing with unprecedented speed and in very diverse ways as a result of market liberalization and globalization (Kahan, 2013). Some of the significant changes include changes in quality and food safety standards; changing prices and emerging niches in global community markets; changing consumer food preferences at national and international levels and consequences of mega-trends such as urbanization and climate change (Neuchatel group, 2008). These dynamics affect rural people as subsistence food production can no longer provide for a decent living and therefore increased engagement in commercial food production and markets has become a necessity and reality for the vast majority of the rural *Corresponding author. E-mail: mwadagwary@yahoo.ca. Author(s) agree that this article remain permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License