AbstractThe Ayangba Agricultural Development Project was intended to design and implement an extension service for all aspects of agriculture. In the event, insufficient notice was taken of the existing methods of crop production and the ‘single crop’ emphasis of the project did not fit in with the farmers' mixed cropping, subsistence farming. The contact farmers selected were not typical of the locality, there were severe financial constraints and a lack of staff morale and dedication.These problems are typical of other similar projects in Nigeria. To tackle them effectively there needs to be a reorientation of values especially on the part of those who control the political process and those who design development programmes.