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INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Overview of Extension Reforms in South Asia- Historical Trends and
Recent Developments
Regional Workshop on Extension Reforms in South Asia
New Delhi, India. February 17-18, 2015
Suresh Babu and P. K. Joshi
Presentation Outline
1. Challenges in Extension
2. Strategies
3. Global Trends
4. Lessons for South Asian Extension System
5. Some Conclusions
Provision and financing of extension
• Why reform?
• Problems of PUBLIC sector extension: - scale and complexity - dependence on policy environment - weak accountability - weak links between extension and research - difficulty in attributing impact - weak political commitment /support - public duties other than knowledge transfer - fiscal sustainability (Feder et al. 2001)
• PUBLIC, PRIVATE, THIRD SECTOR?
FUNDING
DEL
IVER
Y
Public Private Third Sector
Public
Decentralization: Deconcentration Devolution Delegation
Fee-based FBOs contract staff from public sector
Private
Contracting out private service providers (out-sourcing)
Subsidies to producers to hire private provider
Commercialization
Total privatization to private companies
FBOs contract staff from private service providers
Third Sector
Contracting to NGO/FBO providers
Advisory services hired by NGO/FBO, farmers pay
FBOs hire own advisory staff and provide free service to members
Strategies
Sources: Birner et al. (2006), Rivera and Qamar (2003),
Rivera (1996).
Global Trends Examined
1. Decentralization
2. Broadened Extension Function
3. Privatization
4. Participatory/Demand-driven
5. ICT Use
1. Decentralization
• Admin to local level
•More accountability
•Need to build capacity
Example: CHINA • Agro-Technical Extension Centres (ATEC)
• Each level responsible for $$
• Contracts: extension – farmer, FBOs commercial demonstration farms
2. Broadened Extension Function
• PREVIOUSLY:
• Transfer of Technology
• Cereal crop production
• NOW:
• Post-harvest: storage, handling, marketing
• Facilitation, capacity building
• Rural Development – Climate change, nutrition
Example: U.S Cooperative Extension System
• Decline in public funding, awareness and use
• Expand beyond agriculture = increase client base and relevance
• Rural Development: Family, Health, consumption, sustainability, small businesses
3. Privatization + other cost recovery options
• Fee for service, cost sharing
•User pays; poor farmers? Excludability
Low High
Riv
alry
Low
Public goods
-environment, natural
resources, non-excludable
agricultural information
Toll goods
-excludable agricultural
information
High Common-pool goods
-modern technologies
Private goods
- modern technologies
Source: (Umali-Deininger, 1997)
Example: The Netherlands
• Fully privatized from 1990: DLV Plant
WHY? Difference btw govt policy – farmer interest, reduce cost
• More competition, client orientation
• BUT remote farmers, minor crops ignored, weakened links
• Ministry of Ag: public good programs e.g. Nutrient Management Support Service
4. Demand-driven / Participatory approaches
• Consultative process – communities, ecosystems
• Participatory, bottom up
• Problem Driven –Water, Nutrition, climate change
• = accountability, empowerment
• Extension = facilitation, capacity building (takes TIME)
Example: Landcare AUSTRALIA
• 4500 community groups, 1 in 3 farms
• Address land degradation issues, natural resource management
• Partnership: Funds = Central, Action = Community
• “Self-help” supported by coordinators
5. ICT Use
• Connecting famers directly
• Emerging trend in developing countries
• Allows new actors and entities to play their role
• Also brings in problems
Example: JAPAN
• Highly connected through ICT
• Lower transaction cost, increase efficiency
• Extension Information Network System (EI-NET) links all levels
• National Case Information of Extension Activities Database
• Local networks for farmers
Diverse Strategies - Pluralism Global Extension
Trends
Australia Netherlands U.S Japan China India
Governance
structure
Decentralization X XXX X XXX XXX
Privatization XXX XXX
Contracting X
Actors
Involved
Public-Private Partner XXX X
Role of Third Sector XXX
Producer Orgs X X X X
Type of
Service
Fee-for-service X X
Commercial Services X X X
Diverse Services XXX X
Method Use of ICTs XX XX XXX XXX X X
Approach Participatory X ?
Reform
process
National Strategies XXX XXX ? ?
Summary of Issues for extension reforms
1. Governance, Management, and organisation
2. Systematic promoting pluralistic extension
3. Appropriate extension approaches and methods
4. Increasing demand driven nature – empowerment of
the unreached farmers
5. Participatory approaches for stakeholder collaboration
6. Increased thematic dimensions for research-extension-
client Linkages
7. Organization, policy process, and human capacity
Building
8. Effective and appropriate use of ICT
9. Gender considerations
Lessons for South Asian Extension Systems
• Broaden BEYOND ToT
• Public sector fiscal sustainability?
• Privatization = large farmers BUT limited accountability
• Public for resource poor farmers
• Link between Research – Extension,
Conclusions
• Challenges are common
• Reforms are the norm
• Countries are experimenting
• What lessons we learn collectively?
• How to share knowledge within outside the regions?
• This Workshop is an effort to bring South Asian experience as GPG