How to make agricultural extension demand-driven?: The case of India’s agricultural extension policy

Many countries have recognized the need to revive agricultural advisory or extension services (the terms are used interchangeably here) as a means of using agriculture as an engine of pro-poor growth; reaching marginalized, poor, and female farmers; and addressing new challenges, such as environment...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Birner, Regina, Anderson, Jock R.
Formato: Artículo preliminar
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: International Food Policy Research Institute 2007
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/160252
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author Birner, Regina
Anderson, Jock R.
author_browse Anderson, Jock R.
Birner, Regina
author_facet Birner, Regina
Anderson, Jock R.
author_sort Birner, Regina
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Many countries have recognized the need to revive agricultural advisory or extension services (the terms are used interchangeably here) as a means of using agriculture as an engine of pro-poor growth; reaching marginalized, poor, and female farmers; and addressing new challenges, such as environmental degradation and climate change. In spite of ample experience with extension reform worldwide, identifying the reform options most likely to make extension more demand-driven remains a major challenge. The concept of demand-driven services implies making extension more responsive to the needs of all farmers, including women and those who are poor and marginalized. It also implies making extension more accountable to farmers and, as a consequence, more effective. This essay discusses various options for providing and financing agricultural advisory services, which involve the public and private sectors as well as a third sector comprising nongovernmental organizations and farmer-based organizations. We review the market and state failures, and the “community” failures (failures of non-governmental and farmer-based organizations) inherent in existing models of providing and financing agricultural extension services and then outline strategies to address those failures and make extension demand-driven. Then we examine India’s Policy Framework for Agricultural Extension, which has demand-driven extension as one of its major objectives, and review available survey information on the state of extension in India. We conclude that although the framework proposes a wide range of strategies to make agricultural extension demand-driven, it is less specific in addressing the challenges inherent in those strategies. Moreover, it remains unclear whether the strategies proposed in the framework will be able to address one of the major problems identified by farm household surveys: access to agricultural extension.
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spelling CGSpace1602522025-11-06T05:08:39Z How to make agricultural extension demand-driven?: The case of India’s agricultural extension policy Birner, Regina Anderson, Jock R. agricultural extension agricultural policies farmers public-private partnerships non-governmental organizations Many countries have recognized the need to revive agricultural advisory or extension services (the terms are used interchangeably here) as a means of using agriculture as an engine of pro-poor growth; reaching marginalized, poor, and female farmers; and addressing new challenges, such as environmental degradation and climate change. In spite of ample experience with extension reform worldwide, identifying the reform options most likely to make extension more demand-driven remains a major challenge. The concept of demand-driven services implies making extension more responsive to the needs of all farmers, including women and those who are poor and marginalized. It also implies making extension more accountable to farmers and, as a consequence, more effective. This essay discusses various options for providing and financing agricultural advisory services, which involve the public and private sectors as well as a third sector comprising nongovernmental organizations and farmer-based organizations. We review the market and state failures, and the “community” failures (failures of non-governmental and farmer-based organizations) inherent in existing models of providing and financing agricultural extension services and then outline strategies to address those failures and make extension demand-driven. Then we examine India’s Policy Framework for Agricultural Extension, which has demand-driven extension as one of its major objectives, and review available survey information on the state of extension in India. We conclude that although the framework proposes a wide range of strategies to make agricultural extension demand-driven, it is less specific in addressing the challenges inherent in those strategies. Moreover, it remains unclear whether the strategies proposed in the framework will be able to address one of the major problems identified by farm household surveys: access to agricultural extension. 2007 2024-11-21T09:50:21Z 2024-11-21T09:50:21Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/160252 en Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Birner, Regina; Anderson, Jock R. How to make agricultural extension demand-driven? The case of India’s agricultural extension policy. IFPRI Discussion Paper 729. International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://hdl.handle.net/10568/160252
spellingShingle agricultural extension
agricultural policies
farmers
public-private partnerships
non-governmental organizations
Birner, Regina
Anderson, Jock R.
How to make agricultural extension demand-driven?: The case of India’s agricultural extension policy
title How to make agricultural extension demand-driven?: The case of India’s agricultural extension policy
title_full How to make agricultural extension demand-driven?: The case of India’s agricultural extension policy
title_fullStr How to make agricultural extension demand-driven?: The case of India’s agricultural extension policy
title_full_unstemmed How to make agricultural extension demand-driven?: The case of India’s agricultural extension policy
title_short How to make agricultural extension demand-driven?: The case of India’s agricultural extension policy
title_sort how to make agricultural extension demand driven the case of india s agricultural extension policy
topic agricultural extension
agricultural policies
farmers
public-private partnerships
non-governmental organizations
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/160252
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