Over the past two decades, the NGO, Practical Action, has implemented a range of food and livelihoods projects with farmers in some of the most marginalised areas of Africa, Latin America and South Asia. A key component of these projects has been the development of local or community-based extension systems (CBES) to bring information, skills and services to farmers and livestock keepers who would otherwise have limited access to government or commercial extension services. This paper looks at policy-related issues surrounding these local extension systems.