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