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Provides a methodological framework for decisions concerning decentralisation of agricultural services through deconcentration of the public administration, delegation to public or private agencies, devolution, partnerships with civil society organisations or privatisation. These forms of decentralisation are presented as options to be considered according to the policy objectives pursued.
This publication contains twelve modules which cover a selection of major reform measures in agricultural extension being promulgated and implemented internationally, such as linking farmers to markets, making advisory services more demand-driven, promoting pluralistic advisory systems, and enhancing the role of advisory services within agricultural innovation systems. The reform issues consider the changing roles of the various public, private and non-governmental providers, and highlights the collaboration required to create synergies for more efficient and effective high quality services responding to the needs and demands of smallholder farmers. The modules draw on reform experiences worldwide and provide an introduction, definitions and a discussion for each specific reform measure, as well as case studies, tools, exercises and a reference list. The reform topics are envisaged for policy-makers, management and senior staff of institutions providing agricultural and rural advisory services. It can also be very useful for students studying agriculture, rural development, and extension in particular. This is a substantially updated version of the 2009 publication of the same title, but with only nine modules. These nine modules were restructured and up-dated, and three modules were added. The layout of the modules changed to allow a better overview for the reader.
Agricultural extension is in a great transition worldwide. The demand for public extension reform is greater than ever before. The agriculture knowledge infrastructure is evolving in a big way with the emergence of pluralistic extension actors and innovations to cater the needs of the farmeThis book is an attempt to document the past experiences and recent developments in the agriculture knowledge information systems. The compilation of 14 country s such as; Afghanistan, Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, India, Iran, Mozambique, Nepal, Peru, Philippines, Trinidad and Tobago and Zimbabwe is intended to document the experience of extension systems. The fourteen country s highlight the worldwide agricultural extension reform measures (Decentralization, Privatization, Demand driven and Cost-recovery approaches), Institutional Pluralism (Public, Private, and NGOs) and Innovations (Farmer to Farmer extension, Participatory and Self-Help Group (SHG) approaches and ICT initiatives). The agricultural extension students, academicians, scientist, practitioners, administrators, and policy makers will find this compilation of extension experiences from the fourteen countries relevant for designing future reforms, advancing pluralistic extension system and also to integrating innovations in their extension approaches.
The study draws on evidence from India and a range of countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America to argue that agricultural extension has an essential role in helping farmers to reach into new, often global, markets. There should be a comprehensive strategy within agricultural extension to address low-income agricultural households in the context of their wider livelihoods and not merely as commodity producers.
Abstract: During the last three decades, decentralization reform has been a leading trend in policy-making reform. The recurrent argument is that decentralization is linked to increased economic development and improved public service provision. This dissertation attempts to evaluate the validity of this assumption. To do so, it uses a three-paper approach to evaluates the outcomes of decentralization reform from different perspectives and on different dimensions. The first paper uses a geographic regression discontinuity design to estimate that on average a higher level of decentralization at a border implies an average decrease in annual GDP growth. These findings evidence a negative relationship between decentralization and annual GDP growth which are both statistically and economically significant at the one percent level. These results invite a rethinking of decentralization's effects and its implementation process. The second paper focuses on the impact of decentralization reform on Colombia's agricultural extension services. The paper argues that decentralization reform introduced significant changes in the sector. Borrowing from Evans, Hirschman and Snyder, it proposes a framework to explain why the institutional reform led to heterogeneous effects on different products and types of farmers within the sector. Integrating these changes into traditional narratives leads to a better understanding of the last twenty-five years of decline of the Colombian agricultural sector. The third paper is an impact evaluation of a public bicycle sharing system. Public transport systems, like bicycle sharing schemes, are typically under the control of local authorities --due to decentralization designs. Hence, this impact evaluation assesses if a private actor can provide a quasi-public good in the absence of action by the local authority. This paper presents an impact evaluation with a difference-in-difference quasi-experimental design that allows identification and estimation of the treatment effect of a bicycling encouraging intervention. Furthermore, in an attempt to evaluate the effect that a bicycle sharing intervention can have on workers' productivity or well-being, this paper presents an instrumental variable design informing future research on the effect of active commuting by bicycle. Approaching decentralization from these very different perspectives allows a better understanding of the intricacies of decentralization and the way these processes contribute to economic development or better public service provision.
Prepared under the aegis of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), this text presents a fresh and comprehensive look at agricultural development policy. It provides a clear, systematic review of important classes of policy issues in developing countries and discusses the emerging international consensus on viable approaches to the issues. The text is unique in its coverage and depth and it: Summarises hundreds of references on agricultural development policies Cites policy experiences and applied studies in more than 70 countries Provides guidance for policy makers giving examples of successes and failures Reviews issues related to the formulation of strategies and the requirements for making them successful Develops the conceptual foundations and illustrates policies that have worked, and some that have not, with explanations Topics covered include agriculture’s role in economic development, the objectives and strategies of agricultural policy, linkages between macroeconomic and agricultural policy, policies for the agricultural financial system and agricultural technology development. Upper level undergraduates taking courses in Economic Development and International Development and graduates taking courses in Agricultural Development, International and Economic Development, Natural Resource Management and specialised topics in agriculture will find this text of great interest. It also serves as a reference for professionals and researchers in the field of International Development.