This paper examines the relevance of the current theoretical perspectives in extension for promoting horticultural revolution in developing countries. At present agricultural education and extension occurs within a framework inspired by the green revolution. This paper analyses the inadequacy of this approach from two theoretical perspectives and proposes an alternative framework. It describes the relevance of the alternative framework of the Lifelong Learning for Farmers initiatives of the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) in developing countries. In particular it stresses the role of Open and Distance Learning (ODL) in enabling extension systems to address the dynamics of horticulture.