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Increased deployment of agricultural extension agents (EAs) in rural areas is grounded on their importance to spur agricultural productivity and mitigate spatial imbalances in welfare. However, the high turnover and the low motivation levels of EAs in remote areas pose challenges for equitable service provision and, in some cases, exacerbates geographic disparities. We assess the effectiveness of selected potential policy interventions to incentivize and retain EAs in remote areas of Ethiopia. To this end, we conducted a choice experiment to elicit preferences for job attributes of 761 EAs. We applied a random parameters logit model to estimate parameters of interest and to simulate the impact of possible policy interventions. The main results show that offering continuing education opportunities after two years of service increases uptake of an extension job in remote locations by 77 percentage points, which is significantly higher than the effect from doubling current salary levels (70 percentage points). EAs also expressed a strong preference for work environments with basic amenities, housing, transportation services, and wellequipped Farmer Training Centers (FTCs). Furthermore, the results from sub-sample analyses show that female EAs are less responsive to pecuniary incentives and are more concerned with the availability of infrastructure and services. Current salary levels, years of employment, and location of work are also important sources of heterogeneity in the response of EAs to potential policy changes.
Sustainable agricultural practices enable more efficient use of natural resources, mitigate the impact of agriculture on the environment, and strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change and climate variability. Because these practices usually require substantial effort or resource allocation from farmers, incentives are necessary to support farmer adoption. Despite growing interest, there has been little systematic evaluation of the incentives–adoption–outcome chain—that is, which incentives best promote adoption and which lead to desired sustainability outcomes. This brief presents the results of a literature review that examined (1) uptake agricultural practices under three kinds of incentives, market and nonmarket, regulations, and cross-compliance, and (2) the impact on productivity, profitability, and environmental sustainability. Based on this review, it offers a set of seven tested principles to follow in designing and implementing incentives for sustainable agriculture.
Most of the world's poorest people depend on farming for their livelihood. Earnings from farming in low-income countries are depressed partly due to a pro-urban bias in own-country policies, and partly because richer countries (including some developing countries) favor their farmers with import barriers and subsidies. Both sets of policies reduce national and global economic growth and add to inequality and poverty in developing countries. Acknowledgement of that since the 1980s has given rise to greater pressures for reform, both internal and external. Over the past two decades numerous developing country governments have reduced their sectoral and trade policy distortions, while many high-income countries continue with protectionist policies that harm developing country exports of farm products. Recent research suggests that the agricultural protectionist policies of high-income countries reduce welfare in many developing countries. Most of those studies also suggest that full global liberalization of merchandise trade would raise value added in agriculture in developing country regions, and that much of the benefit from global reform would come not just from reform in high-income countries but also from liberalization among developing countries, including in many cases own-country reform. These findings raise three key questions that are addressed in this paper: To what extent have the reforms of the past two decades succeeded in reducing distortions to agricultural incentives? Do current policy distortions still discriminate against farmers in low-income countries? And what are the prospects for further reform in the next decade or so?
Agricultural extension is critical for agricultural growth and food security, but making the extension system effective, demand driven, and responsive to the needs of a diverse set of producers remains a challenge. As part of the institutional reforms in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the extension system is being reviewed to identify strategies and practical actions to transform the system to better respond to the knowledge needs in a rapidly changing agriculture and food sector. This paper provides an in-depth review of the agricultural extension system of DRC including an analysis of its policies and legal framework, organization, and management; links to critical institutions; and capacity and incentive of different actors in the system. This review involved document analyses, interviews with key informants, and surveys of 107 extension organizations and 162 extension agents in 156 randomly selected villages in western DRC. This review suggests serious funding constraints, human resource management problems, no linkage and coordination within the extension system and with research and education systems, and a majority of underserved communities and farmers. This review also highlights a good opportunity given the huge human resources (more than 11,000 agents) deployed into the sectors and territories as part of the Ministry’s agricultural inspection system. However, their mandate is not clear and they currently focus on data collection (census) and checking what farmers do and limited in extension and advisory work. This review highlights the urgent need for human resource or civil service reform; public-sector commitment and funding; infrastructure rebuilding and skills upgrading in extension, education and training, and research organizations; and a unified policy or strategy with clear vision, mandate, targets, and performance-based incentive system.
Agricultural extension is critical for agricultural growth and food security, but making the extension system effective, demand driven, and responsive to the needs of a diverse set of producers remains a challenge. As part of the institutional reforms in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the extension system is being reviewed to identify strategies and practical actions to transform the system to better respond to the knowledge needs in a rapidly changing agriculture and food sector. This paper provides an in-depth review of the agricultural extension system of DRC including an analysis of its policies and legal framework, organization, and management; links to critical institutions; and capacity and incentive of different actors in the system. This review involved document analyses, interviews with key informants, and surveys of 107 extension organizations and 162 extension agents in 156 randomly selected villages in western DRC. This review suggests serious funding constraints, human resource management problems, no linkage and coordination within the extension system and with research and education systems, and a majority of underserved communities and farmers. This review also highlights a good opportunity given the huge human resources (more than 11,000 agents) deployed into the sectors and territories as part of the Ministry's agricultural inspection system. However, their mandate is not clear and they currently focus on data collection (census) and checking what farmers do and limited in extension and advisory work. This review highlights the urgent need for human resource or civil service reform; public-sector commitment and funding; infrastructure rebuilding and skills upgrading in extension, education and training, and research organizations; and a unified policy or strategy with clear vision, mandate, targets, and performance-based incentive system.
Since their inception in 1862, the U.S. land grant colleges have evolved to become the training ground for the nation's and the world's agriculturists. In this book, the committee examines the future of the colleges of agriculture in light of changing national priorities for the agricultural, food, and natural resource system. The effects of federal funding constraints also are examined, as are opportunities for growth presented by developments in science. The committee's preceding volume, Colleges of Agriculture at the Land Grant Universities: A Profile, is a compilation of the data that helped formulate the specific questions to be addressed. Colleges of Agriculture at the Land Grant Univerisities: Public Service and Public Policy is the deliberative report, rating conclusions and recommendations for institutional innovation and public policy. It addresses these and other questions: What education mission should colleges of agriculture adoptâ€"and what strategies should they useâ€"in light of significant changes in the agricultural complex? Research in agriculture is expected to respond to consumer demands, environmental concerns, world population growth, and increasing pressure on agricultural lands. Is the century-old structure of land grant university-based research up to the task? What is the role of extension in light of today's smaller farming communities and larger farming conglomerates? This volume is the culmination of a landmark evaluation of land grant colleges of agriculture, an American institution. This document will be of value to policymakers, administrators, and others involved in agricultural science and education.
Knowledge generation and transfer mechanisms are being transformed in important and controversial ways. Investment in research and development has increased in response to recognition that scientific productivity is tightly connected to economic dynamism. Patent protection has been expanded in order to stimulate higher levels of private investment. Intellectual property rights held by public organizations and researchers are now increasingly transferred to private organizations to accelerate the diffusion and enhance the value of knowledge produced by public agencies and universities. Additionally, new institutions such as university offices of technology transfer, venture capital markets, and a variety of consortia in knowledge-intensive industries are being established throughout the United States and in other parts of the world. These changes have led to a repositioning of the state in systems of innovation and an increase in the proprietary character of technical information. The purpose of this book is to review and analyze i) contemporary transitions in agricultural knowledge generation and extension arrangements from an empirical perspective, and ii) emerging and contradictory perspectives as to how knowledge systems can be assessed effectively. The authors aim to provide the reader with a better understanding of the implications of new biotechnologies and new intellectual property rights regimes on public-private relations in science, the extent to which benefits from scientific knowledge are being appropriated by private sector actors, the diversity and possible outcomes of privatization initiatives in extension, and prospects for public goods production and ecological sustainability given contemporary trends. The book presents contrasting views on the degree of complementarity and substitution between private and public sector investments in research and extension. Recognizing that the labels `public' and `private' are incomplete and at times misleading descriptions of the structure and function of coordinating bodies in social systems, the analyses highlight ways in which public and private spaces and modes of functioning combine. In addition to illustrating a broad range of analytic methodologies useful for studying organizational questions in knowledge systems, the authors identify the implications of a range of past and potential institutional innovations.
World Bank Discussion Paper 236. Agricultural support services play an important role in increasing agricultural productivity. Given the importance of agriculture to developing countries, governments have taken the lead in providing such services.