NI-CO was part of a consortium, which was awarded a €2 million contract to assist the Polish Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The project was divided into three parts;

• To complete an audit of the present system of extension to set a baseline from which a national advisory system can be developed;
• To build an agreed system of agricultural extension within a programme of institution building
• To bring the project to a close with the creation of a programme that ensures the long-term sustainability of the agricultural advisory system throughout the whole of Poland.

With the support of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development these programmes established an extension “philosophy” that can be accepted by all of the Polish Extension Officers and it will deal with Human Resource Management issues and establish a clear extension strategy that covers issues such as producer group establishment, adoption of new quality standards and CAP implementation.