September 2002

Global trends in agricultural extension: challenges facing Asia and the Pacific region

M. Kalim Qamar
Extension, Education and Communication Service
FAO Research, Extension and Training Division
Part 2 of 2

This was the Keynote paper presented at the FAO Regional Expert Consultation on Agricultural Extension,
Research-Extension-Farmer Interface and Technology Transfer, held in Bangkok; 16-19 July 2002.

Introduction

The changes in the working environment within which an organization functions, force the
organization to make necessary adjustments if it wants to continue functioning efficiently.
Without such adjustments, the organization will either collapse or will keep working
inefficiently, moving gradually towards eventual obsoleteness. The changes in the working
environment, which may be called as "forces of change", vary in nature and scope, i.e. they could
be political, technical, economic or social. They could be location specific, regional, national or
global. The effects of these forces of change may be immediate, medium-term or long-term, and
they may be direct or indirect. In response, the organization may make adjustments internally,
externally, or both. National agricultural extension systems are no exception to this rule. They
are also directly or indirectly affected by the changes and, in response, must make internal and
external adjustments in order to keep functioning at the same or at higher level of efficiency.
Before going into explanation of global trends in agricultural extension, it will be useful to
identify the main global forces of change, which are affecting or are bound to affect the existing
structure, mandate and practices of national agricultural extension systems in developing
countries.

Global Forces of Change

1. Globalization and market liberalization

Globalization in its extreme and true sense means that the world becomes a single entity for
living and business, being governed by a common law, without any restrictions on peoples'
movement. This however, remains a Utopian dream. The present scope of globalization is
limited to more interaction and linkages among countries in the matters of trade, information
flow, and finance, encouraging open competition through removal of trade and other national
safeguard barriers, supposedly under fair and relatively equal conditions for producers of goods
and services no matter which country they live in, thus mutually benefiting from international
contacts and opportunities. The controversy comes from the issue of fair and equal conditions for
producers, irrespective of advantages, disadvantages, potential and risk of globalization. This is
because under present conditions, the developing countries cannot compete with the developed
nations in the international market in terms of production, quality and exports. The general
impression, drawn from now familiar demonstrations at the economic summits, is that the
globalization is going to make rich countries richer and poor countries poorer. Apart from the
politics of globalization, it will expose the farming communities to both risk and opportunities in
less developed countries. The communities, therefore, must be educated and prepared to adjust

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their agricultural operations within the context of globalization, a burden which, by and large, the
national agricultural extension systems will have to carry, and they must prepare themselves in
time to meet the imminent challenge.
Liberalization is an integral part of globalization, which calls for removal of trade barriers, tariffs
and other regulatory measures that are usually put into force by countries to protect their own
industries and products to discourage the inflow of the articles produced elsewhere in the world.
Therefore liberalization asks for opening of markets, or deregulation, so that goods could move
freely between countries. It also advocates removal of artificial price controls and of public
support to farming sector in the form of farm subsidies so that the market can realistically
determine the price of various commodities and products on the basis of their demand, supply
and quality, and the consumers could freely make a choice what is the best for them. Both
commercial and millions of subsistence farmers in developing countries are bound to be affected,
directly or indirectly, sooner or later, by market liberalization, and national agricultural extension
services will have to be knowledgeable enough to educate the farmers in properly entering into
liberalized market.

2. Privatization

So many services that were managed in the past by governments are now being managed and
delivered by the private sector. This is especially true in economically advanced countries. In
many developing countries, institutions and services such as banks, railways, post offices,
airlines, industries, hospitals, academic institutions, etc. are gradually being transferred to the
private sector. The underlying reason is dwindling budgets of governments and business-as-usual
attitude of permanent government employees, which makes the public institutions inefficient,
less productive, causing financial losses and creating discontent among people. Private sector, on
the other hand, has more resources, innovative ideas, and a motive for profit thus keen to offer
efficient and better services to its clientele.

There is strong lobbying from major multilateral and bilateral donors for privatizing national
extension services. The main argument is that public agricultural extension systems have failed
or are at best unsatisfactory when it comes to delivery of services to farmers. Another equally
strong argument is that since farmers profit from extension advice, and the government budgets
for public services are sliding, the cost of delivering this advice should be recovered by charging
fee from the clientele. Yet one more argument in favour of privatization of extension services is
that the private sector is actively involved in selling farm inputs and machinery then why should
it not handle the task of advising farmers on agricultural matters, supposedly more efficiently
than usually done by the public sector. The argument, healthy competition among service
providers will lead to better quality and less costs for services, is also heard. The trend to
privatize extension services will certainly shake the traditionally friendly and informal
relationship between government extension staff and the subsistence farmers in developing
countries, since the latter were never asked to pay for extension advice. Apart from the question
whether total, partial or no privatization of extension is needed in developing countries, the
national extension services should be well versed in the pros and cons of this major issue.

3. Commercialization and agri-business

Commercial agriculture has been practiced for centuries in all parts of the world, by individual
farmers holding vast pieces of land, by colonial powers in their respective colonies, by socialist
and communist regimes through state farms and cooperatives, and by commercial agricultural
companies, both national and international. Millions of subsistence farmers have rarely
participated in commercial agriculture due to the fact that they produce barely enough for their
own consumption, and in some very favorable cropping season, produce a bit surplus for
marketing. However, currently, there is an all out force aimed at commercialization of farming
even at small scale. There are questions, both ethical and technical, whether it makes sense to let
the subsistence farmers continue as they have been doing for generations, or whether their
operations should be transformed towards agri-business, rural enterprise, rural industries, or
commercialization. These questions seem to be valid in light of the evidence that rural poverty

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has persisted, if not worsened, and in many countries rural young people, unlike their parents, are
less inclined to stay in villages and continue farming. Appropriate agricultural policies and land
consolidation laws will be required if privately owned and cultivated small units of land are to be
combined or merged to create larger, commercially viable plots. The agricultural extension
services will have to come up with the strategies that could help subsistence farmers in
organizing themselves for commercializing their operations profitably, without losing the pride
of land ownership.

4. Democratization and participation

The civil society is advocating, more than over, why democracy, participatory decision making,
transparency in government affairs, and good governance are necessary for eradication of
poverty, uprooting of corruption, relatively equal distribution of benefits among various sections
of society, welfare of disadvantaged and vulnerable groups, optimum utilization of human and
physical resources, sustainable livelihoods, and overall human development. Even the economic
aid to be given by bilateral donors to poor countries, in many instances, has been tied with the
government records on human rights and good governance. These powerful forces are
challenging the ages old traditional practices in almost all walks of life, at household, national
and international level, in political, economic, and social terms. A large number of strategies
have evolved during recent years which supposedly ensure participatory decision making and
involvement of all stakeholders in joint planning and implementation. The agricultural extension
services, and for that matter, all grassroots level service institutions have been influenced by
these conceptual thrusts. However, the national agricultural extension systems in most
developing countries have still to learn to translate the concept of farmers' participation into
action. This is because most of them have been following for decades the top-down models of
extension.

5. Environment concerns

A global campaign for maintaining healthy environment emerged out of the Earth Summit held
in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and has been gaining momentum since then. There has been hardly any
national or international meeting on development, which has not mentioned environment, no
matter what technical focus. In addition to special departments in international development
agencies, national ministries and institutions have been created in developed and developing
countries to handle environmental affairs. Similarly, teaching and research programmers have
been initiated in academic institutions worldwide. Global warming and El Nino have become
relatively common concerns, and freak storms, devastating floods, torrential rains, forest fires of
biblical proportion, noticeable rise in ocean level, increased shark attacks on humans, fast
melting of ancient glaciers, visible disturbance in wildlife patterns, and even occurrence of
earthquakes have been attributed to global warming. The NGOs like Green Peace have
established a record of frequent interventions in government actions that in any way compromise
the health of environment. There is no way for a profession like farming, which depends on
nature, to remain aloof from environmental impact, or to ignore environment concerns. The
national agricultural extension systems also come under scrutiny for the extent to which
environmental friendliness is practiced in their daily operations.

6. Disasters and emergencies

Whatever reasons, human miseries are on rise in this age of civilization and scientific progress,
some through man-made and some through natural disasters. There are conflicts, wars, droughts,
famines, storms, earthquakes, epidemics, and many such calamities, which take enormous human
and physical toll and disrupt normal course of life. There has been steep increase in the number

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of countries afflicted by human-induced disaster, i.e. from an average of 5 in 1980s to 22 in
2000, mainly due to conflicts. Between 30 and 40 countries were engaged in conflict at the end
of the 20th century, adversely affecting thousands of millions of people. In the recent years,
weather-related disasters have risen from 10 to 18 per year. In 1998 alone, some 32,000 persons
were killed and 300 million were displaced from their homes and livelihoods. The disasters have
hit both urban and rural population. There are countries where farmers cannot farm due to land
mines in the fields. Basic farming ingredients like seed, water and soil are not readily available.
Extension services have dissipated and the farmers have no source of technical advice.
Infrastructure has been damaged, making the transportation and delivery of farm inputs
impossible. Although food aid agencies and NGOs have been active in disaster hit areas yet food
handouts work only to a limit. Agricultural extension services cannot face all these colossal
challenges by themselves. They have to work in collaboration with relevant institutions and help
the rural population in growing food for survival using whatever resources available. The
disasters have been cruel forces of change and a comprehensive response from national
agricultural extension systems is still awaited.

7. Information technology break-through

We are in the middle of information technology revolution. The fast advances in this field are
rapidly changing the way people have been living on this planet. This development has virtually
shrunk the world and has affected almost every walk of life. Never before was an event
unfolding in a remote location shared more instantly by the people living elsewhere in the world.
The information technology is tremendous power that could be harnessed by organizations for
the benefit of mankind. The agricultural extension services cannot keep themselves aloof from
the popular application of information technology in daily life. Agricultural extension services
can exploit this potential to strengthen their own capacities and to educate the rural populations
who have access to media. The extension organizations in developing countries have two major
problems when it comes to having face-to-face contacts with the farmers and researchers: first,
physical distances and the second, lack of transportation facilities. The new information
technology could erase these physical barriers to a great extent through the development and
application of appropriate, interactive information mechanisms.

Rural poverty, hunger and vulnerability

There have been internationally renewed calls for eradication of rural poverty and hunger, and
for support to vulnerable groups such as rural landless, women and youth. The number of poor
has gone up in recent years. Moreover, even though there is enough food produced for everyone
in the world, yet 800 million people, almost one in seven persons, do not have enough to eat.
Hunger, poverty and vulnerability are inter-linked. While the world celebrated the new
millennium, 13 million people were brought to the brink of starvation in the Horn of Africa,
while the European farmers and livestock industry were hit by mad-cow and foot-and-mouth
diseases. New anti-hunger programs initiatives are underway and will definitely involve all those
institutions, which deal with rural population. There is no way that agricultural extension
services that are in frequent contact with the rural people will remain isolated from these
international efforts against rural poverty, hunger and vulnerability. They need to develop
suitable strategies to effectively participate in the war against these human miseries.

HIV/AIDS epidemic

Some 40 million people are affected by HIV/AIDS worldwide of whom 95 per cent live in
developing countries, 28.7 million in sub-Saharan Africa and 7.1 million in Asia. The epidemic
has killed millions of people. According to an estimate, about 32 million people are currently
infected with HIV, and the number is spreading fast. In 2001, AIDS killed over two million

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people, and may kill additional 70 million in the next 20 years unless drastic measures are taken
to effectively end this invasion of death. There are indisputable, negative effects on manpower,
resulting in the loss of trained, skilled and experienced workers in all disciplines. Farm labor,
plentiful in the past, is diminishing fast. The epidemic has also affected agricultural extension
organizations in the sense that not only there have been deaths and long absenteeism among the
staff but also the old, traditional extension approaches have been rendered unsuitable. This is due
to the fact that the current cropping patterns have been changed due to weakening physical
condition of farming population, emergence of "new farmers" comprising elderly, widows and
young children, unsuitability of current farm tools, and unsuitability of existing rural credit
approval criteria. Extension organizations in the countries affected by HIV/AIDS, especially in
the sub-Saharan Africa, have to come up with fresh extension strategies, supported by modified
farming systems and appropriate farm tools.

Sustainable development

Just like environment concerns, the global emphasis on the need for sustainable development has
increased. People in all parts of the world would like to ensure that they do not deplete natural
resources to the extent that future generations will be left with hunger and poverty. The
sustainable rural and agricultural development requires environment-friendly technologies as
well as sensitization among farming communities about the need to properly utilize and conserve
natural resources, especially those which are used by the community at large, such as common
grazing grounds, forests and fishing ponds. The excessive use of chemical fertilizers and
pesticides, deforestation, and excessive fishing have to be reduced and suitable on-farm water
and soil management is to be introduced. The practices like organic farming and integrated pest
management are being promoted, and there are expectations that agricultural extension
organizations will not only become conscious of the need to conserve natural resources but will
also educate farming men and women to adopt environment- and natural resource-friendly
agricultural practices.

Biotechnology and genetic engineering

A global debate has started on the issue of producing and consuming genetically modified food.
There are positions taken from different angles. On one side, one has to use all possible means to
feed ever increasing population, and on the other side, one has to retain biodiversity and be alert
about potential health risks to humans and livestock from genetically modified diet. In all this
debate, the people who remain most ignorant are the farmers in developing countries who are
growing food for millions of people. No agricultural extension services have so far felt the need
to educate them in this increasingly controversial but important subject. Since biotechnology is
not yet widespread in developing countries, there is no urgency to start extension programs. But
this is the right time when necessary steps be taken for preparing training courses and teaching
materials both for extension workers and farmers.

Criticism of public extension services

A serious criticism of public agricultural extension services of almost all developing countries
has become a global force of change. The services have been criticized on several grounds such
as being supply-driven, technically weak, patronizing only big farmers, insufficient coverage of
and contacts with farmers, practicing top-down extension approach, etc. Some of the criticism is
genuine while some has been levied without understanding the underlying causes which are
beyond the control of extension workers, such as poor pre-service education, little in-service
training, burden of non-extension tasks, low salaries, low status, lack of opportunities for
professional career development in comparison with other agricultural services, and needed
coverage of a very large number of farmers scattered over a very large area without having
adequate operational budget or transportation facilities. Not surprisingly, the extension services
have usually become the first victim of any major economic reform. For example, the number of
public extension workers is drastically reduced due to structural adjustment measures,

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recommended by major donors. In addition, during the process of decentralization, extension
services are marginalized and downgraded. Also, the remote areas, which extension agents rarely
visit due to lack of transportation facilities, are increasingly being covered by NGOs. The global
criticism has called for alternatives such as privatization of extension services, inclusion of other
partners in extension delivery, contracting-out of extension work, and farmer-to-farmer extension
modality.

Integrated, multi-disciplinary and holistic development

There is a strong global preference for multidisciplinary, integrated, and holistic approach to
development. The rationale is that simultaneous, multi-sector development is more meaningful
than individual sector development at a time. More and more organizations are revising their
structure in favor of this choice. The reorganization at the Asian Development Bank is a recent
example, where several technical departments have been placed in each newly created country
departments unlike before when the focus of the organization was on having a number of
individual technical departments to cover all the member countries. The "integrated rural
development approach", which was applied during 1960s in many countries, is returning in a
reformed mode, including elements of bottom-up emphasis, participation of stakeholders,
emphasis on eradication of rural poverty and gender-sensitivity. Many multilateral donors, such
as UNDP, have adopted a program approach, abandoning the old project approach. Hence, the
number of multi-disciplinary and integrated programmed is on increase. FAO is running an
integrated programmed in Namibia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, which has as many as six
technical components including research and extension. The sustainable livelihoods concept also
promotes holistic development. The Neuchatel Initiative Group, interested in reforming national
agricultural extension systems, is currently exploring the role of extension in a wider rural and
agricultural development context.

The institutional response to global forces

Several countries as well as bilateral and multilateral donors have felt the need to reform national
agricultural extension systems in response to the global forces of change. Currently, there are
three international initiatives aimed at the reforms. The first is the Neuchatel Initiative (NI). The
NI is an informal group of major European bilateral donors, the World Bank, IFAD, USAID and
FAO. The NI Group has been meeting every year since 1995, to discuss possible reforms in
national agricultural extension systems, mainly in sub-Saharan African countries. Lately, the NI
has been discussing extension experiences in other parts of the world. The second initiative
comes jointly from FAO and the World Bank in the form of a revised AKIS/RD (agricultural
knowledge and information systems for rural development). Third initiative comes from FAO in
the form of National Agricultural Extension Systems Reform Initiative (NAESRI). The
institutions have produced individual publications containing principles of reforms, which may
be used as guidelines for reforming the national agricultural extension systems in the developing
countries.

Broader role of extension

The very definition, scope and technical focus of agricultural extension is under scrutiny. The
question being raised is why should extension services focus just on the transfer of agricultural
technology, which is not only a passive function but also, utilizes a top-down approach. Instead,
more emphasis is being laid on human resources development, i.e. on developing the capabilities
and capacities of farmers in terms of problem solving, management and decision-making.
Another issue under discussion is whether extension should cover only agriculture as in the past,
or should it also address other aspects of rural and agricultural development. The logic behind a
broader technical coverage is that farmer should be considered as a person with a number of
educational needs, agriculture being just one of them. That is why one finds the term
"agricultural and rural extension" rather than just agricultural extension, in recent literature.

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Another relevant line of thinking is "multifunctional agriculture", an apparently controversial
topic that brought hundreds of participants to a global conference in The Netherlands in 1999.
The public agricultural extension departments have a major comparative advantage over other
technical departments in developing countries: their field agents visit the farmers, more
frequently than the staff of any other technical units. This very fact has generated fertile
opportunities for using extension agents to "piggyback" non-agricultural educational messages,
such as those related to environment, population, HIV/AIDS, to the farmers while introducing
improved agricultural technologies. The training modules on integration of environment and
population education into extension programmed, developed by FAO, have been satisfactorily
introduced in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, and more recently in Egypt, Jordan,
Syria and Lebanon. The new messages have been incorporated in a rather subtle way,
highlighting the relationship among natural resources, food production, population and
environment, and seem to have strong learning appeal to farmers.

Decentralized extension services

A number of countries have disbanded the conventional, centre-focused multilayer

organizational structure in favor of a decentralized mechanism. The new emphasis is on having a
rather small unit at national level to handle functions of policy, co-ordination and training and
delegating the tasks of program planning, implementation and even fiscal authority to the
provincial or district or municipality government.
The decentralization has placed, in many instances, agricultural extension responsibility in the
hands of the ministry of local government or ministry of home affairs. Although decentralization
is good in principle, the initial stage shows quite a bit of setback for extension. In case of
Philippines, for example, the interference of municipality-level politicians has compromised the
effectiveness of extension programs. Also, the career development opportunities of extension
staff have been adversely affected. The latest thinking is that since the municipalities are not
viable economic unit for delivering extension services, the extension responsibilities should be
moved back to provincial level. In Indonesia, the extension services have been marginalized
because most district governments have certain priorities, irrespective of national policy, which
would generate quick revenues, and agricultural extension which, unlike estate crops or
livestock, generally gives a long-term return, is not considered as a priority. Tanzania's
decentralized extension service at field level suffers from lack of operational budget. In Kosovo,
where the government comprises UNMIK (United Nations Interim Administration in Kosovo)
expatriates, the decentralized government units do not want to do much with the central
government. In Uganda, some district authorities have preferred to spend the extension budget
on constructing feeder roads, leaving extension staff without salary for several months. One
reason for this "institutional chaos", which applies to many countries, is that the central
government adequately prepared neither itself nor the local governments in advance for
decentralization. Decentralization is truly a double-edged sword, and if not handled properly,
could cause more harm than good.

Fully or partially privatized extension

Several developed countries have fully or partially privatized their agricultural extension
services. The new terms like outsourcing extension, cost-recovery for extension services, and
contracting out extension are related to the drive for privatization. Costa Rica has a unique
system under which the government provides farmers with extension vouchers, which can be
used for getting extension advice from private specialists. In England, the public extension
service has evolved over time into a private consulting practice. The positive result is enhanced
efficiency of staff, and the negative effect is the deprivation of small farmers from extension
services due to their inability or unwillingness to pay. In Holland, about 60% of the extension
budget comes from farmers while the remaining 40% is provided by the government. The
benefits include increased efficiency, improved quality, client-orientation, job satisfaction for
staff, and expanded marketing opportunities for farmers. The problems faced include loss of
government authority, government's inability to keep its financial promises, weaker
communication with the stakeholders due to creation of competition among them. In Albania, the

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private sector entrepreneurial initiatives to create long-term relationship with farmers have
proved to be successful. The extension services in Nicaragua are both decentralized and semi-
private. Bulgaria privatized a number of state farms to be used as demonstration farms, with an
objective of establishing private extension service. Since the experiment was not successful, the
government has decided to establish a national extension service with external financial
assistance. Estonia has both, a public extension advisory service for poor farmers and a private
service for better-off farmers. Uganda is experimenting with the privatization of extension
through creation of a pool of private extension specialists out of its existing public extension
service, which farmers associations could call upon for providing services, and pay for the
services from the funds given to them by the donors through central and decentralized
government units. The sustainability of this arrangement seems to be questionable.
In Israel, the efforts to even semi-privatize national extension service have not met with success.
The government is still responsible for providing extension advice, but encourages privatization
through: standing practice of growers to contribute portion of their income to research and
development including extension, public and private partnership in financing and operating units
within extension service, payment for services by commodity production and marketing boards
beyond a basic extension package, the provision of more intensive extension activities at the
request of needy growers, special agreements with commodity farmers' organizations, extension
staff working on their day off for direct payment from farmers, provision of equipment like
mobile phones to extension advisers by growers associations, and direct payment by farmers for
participation in training activities.
The advocates of privatization of extension services believe that farmers should pay for the
extension advice. However, there is genuine fear that the zeal for cost-recovery would deprive
small farmers from benefiting from the services. The small farmers either do not believe that the
extension advice is worth paying for, or they simply cannot afford to pay. As pointed out earlier,
this is true even for some developed countries like England. The common wisdom would dictate
that in developing countries, commercial farmers should pay for extension advice while the
government should provide extension services to small producers free of charge.

Pluralistic extension system

The modality of using both public and non-public institutions for delivering extension services to
farming communities, called pluralistic extension system, is gaining popularity. The obvious
rationale is the pooling of all available resources in order to reduce unhealthy competition, delete
redundancy of services, and compensate for low budgets of the ministries of agriculture. In
certain developing countries like Mali, one finds many NGOs, private companies and semi-
autonomous bodies engaged in delivering extension advice to farmers. A recently formulated
national policy on agricultural extension in Bangladesh recognizes, for the first time, the need for
partnerships with NGOs and private sector, under a decentralized extension system. In Honduras,
where extension services are being privatized and small farmers are unable to pay, about 70
NGOs reach about 50,000 farmers living mostly in remote areas. In Zimbabwe, a number of
public, semi-government, and private institutions are involved in delivering extension services to
farmers.
The main challenge in installing a proper pluralistic agricultural extension mechanism would be
the co-ordination among various agencies, the absence of which has led, in some instances, to
conflicting technical recommendations creating confusion among the farmers. FAO has recently
conducted a study in Zimbabwe, which focuses on defining the role of the government and a
coordination mechanism for a pluralistic pattern of agricultural extension.

Client-orientation

The old practice of delivering the same technical messages to all farmers using the same
extension methodology is gradually being replaced by client-focused approaches. The extension
clientele include subsistence farmers, commercial farmers, rural youth, women, rural poor,
physically disabled and lately HIV/AIDS-affected farmers' families, and they all have different
extension needs. This realization has given rise to terms like client-oriented extension, and
gender-sensitive extension.

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In certain countries of the sub-Saharan Africa, the HIV/AIDS epidemic has changed the very
composition of extension clientele, bringing young orphans, widows, physically weak, elderly
and ill persons in the fields. The epidemic thus is not just a health problem, but it has become a
serious development issue, challenging the validity of present agricultural extension strategies.
FAO has recently completed studies on the impact of HIV/AIDS on public and private
agricultural extension organizations in Malawi, Uganda and Zambia. Another FAO study has
focused on identifying extension needs of farmers with physical disabilities in Iran, a country
which has been subjected to a long war a decade ago.
Closely related to the preceding point is the increasing emphasis on developing special extension
programs for the farmers living in unique locations like mountains, small islands and deserts.
The institutions like the International Institute for Integrated Mountain Development in Nepal
have been working towards addressing special needs of the farming communities located in
mountainous regions. Recently, a meeting of the Mountain Grasslands Working Group was held
with the assistance of FAO in Romania for reviewing the current extension assistance available
to the people living in the mountains of East European countries.
Another budding concern is the development of urban agriculture. The underlying cause is
increasing food needs in sprawling cities. This will definitely present new challenges to
extension staff, which has been trained to work with the farming communities in rural areas.
FAO has organized a conference, "Feeding the Asian Cities", in Bangkok in 2000.

Application of electronic information technology

The advanced information technology is already making headway in the area of rural and
agricultural development. A number of countries such as Laos, Vietnam and Mali, are
experimenting with telecentres, which have already exhibited their benefits in several West
European countries. Virtual linkages are being established for bringing research and extension
together, and one example is VERCON (Virtual extension, research and communication
network), which FAO is trying to introduce in Egypt. Under an FAO project in the Philippines,
the Internet and interactive e-mail facilities are being established at municipality level for
supporting decentralized extension staff. Then, expert systems are being developed to
compensate, to some extent, for rare visits of subject-matter specialists to farmers' field. The use
of cellular phones is by now a routine practice and the equipment is being used for a rural
development project in Bangladesh. Over 30% of extension staff in Estonia use Internet. One can
find programs like "virtual gardens" and "virtual farms" on the World-Wide-Web. The main
challenge is how the powers of advanced information technology can be harnessed for the
benefit of both extension agents and farmers without compromising the importance of human
and unique local factors.

Participatory extension

The powerful trend towards involving farmers in decision making has led to the modalities like
participatory farmer group extension, client-oriented extension, gender-sensitive extension,
research-extension-farmers linkages, and to the development of participatory tools like PRA
(participatory rural appraisal) and KAP (knowledge, attitude and practice) survey. The advocacy
for empowering farmers has increased tremendously.

Indonesia has successfully established new institutions called Agricultural Technology

Assessment Institutes at provincial level, bringing together farmers, researchers, and extension
specialists. In Pakistan, groups of highly motivated small farmers established under FAO's
Special Program on Food Security, have been taking decisions in matters related to group cash
savings, quality seed, fertilizer, water management, cultural practices, farm machinery, income
diversification activities, and marketing of produce. The pilot experiment has proved to be so
successful in terms of yield increases that the government has embarked upon replicating the
approach in 100 villages, and a new FAO project has been approved to provide technical
assistance in training aspects of the program. In Argentina, one main factor for success of a
federal program for small- and medium-size farms is the involvement of all stakeholders in
major decision-making. Similarly, Jordan's extension service has established Close Contact

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Groups of farmers while Tanzania has formed Participatory Farmer Groups of men and women
farmers. In Philippines, under an FAO project, a methodology for participatory, grassroots
extension program development has been outlined, and an extension delivery partnership
mechanism is being worked out, involving stakeholders such as extension staff, farmers, NGOs,
private sector, research, and academic institutions.

Unified extension service

The extension services are being unified in the interest of optimum utilization of resources and
an efficient bureaucracy. Indeed, the farmer's time cannot and should not be wasted through
individual visits of so many extension agents, each representing a different agricultural
discipline. The creation or strengthening of multi-disciplinary subject-matter specialists teams
during decentralization of extension services in a number of countries, including Indonesia and
the Philippines, is a popular move. FAO has provided technical assistance to Uganda in the
integration of agro-forestry and HIV/AIDS education in agricultural extension programs, thus
making the extension approach multi-disciplinary. In Iran, FAO has recommended the placement
of a multi-disciplinary team of subject-matter specialists at district level, the composition of the
team depending on the technical needs and priorities of each district. Thus the districts in coastal
zones will have a fisheries specialist, and those with dominant livestock activities, will have a
livestock specialist. In Indonesia, both agriculture and forestry extension has been placed under a
single extension service assisted by a World Bank-funded project. In the Philippines, extension
service covers both agriculture and fisheries under the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization
Act. Under a new project funded by the Asian Development Bank, Vietnam's extension services
will be reformed, and one of the reform measures will be unification of present extension
services.

Challenges facing Asia and the Pacific Region

While the global forces are shaping future of agricultural extension worldwide, the national
agricultural extension systems in some countries in Asia and the Pacific Region are going
through some sort of institutional reform. However, as is evident from the following, the Region
faces enormous challenges in making the extension services effective and meaningful.

Giving extension profession a proper status

Agricultural extension has played a vital role in bringing about agricultural and rural
development in countries like the United States, Australia, Japan, and those in the Western
Europe, as is obvious from their well established extension services and generous budgets since
long. Unfortunately, even though most extension organizations in Asia and the Pacific Region
were established over half century ago, the profession of extension has never received the proper
status it deserves, that is in comparison to other agricultural professions. Agricultural extension
is a tough and demanding profession, both physically and intellectually, yet even today,
extension workers remain with very low salary, meager benefits, and negligible opportunities for
development of their professional career. No surprise that few young men and women venture to
select extension as a career after graduating from high school. Suitable candidates will never be
attracted to this profession until its service conditions are brought in line with other agricultural
disciplines, and the present extension organizations are given adequate operational budget, career
development opportunities and mobility means, something essential for proper field work.
Without this long overdue reform, agricultural extension in Asia will remain a second class
profession, in spite of its demonstrated importance in bringing about rural and agricultural
development in highly developed countries.

Improving pre-service education in extension

Presently, the pre-service education in agricultural extension is no more than lip service. The
curricula are outdated, audio-visual aids are missing, suitable educational methodologies are

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unknown, and above all, the students of extension are given doses of theory, without any
exposure to real-life extension work involving rural life, farms and farmers. It is hardly
surprising then if the new graduates have no technical competence and professional confidence
while facing farmers, some of them for the very first time in their life. This is true that not many
extension agents have aptitude of living in rural conditions, a result of both faulty selections of
students for agricultural extension major as well as almost total disregard for practical training.
Appropriate pre-service education will reduce the need and costs of future in-service training.
Any serious effort at reforming the national agricultural extension systems must start with
reforming of the agricultural education system, which currently produces extension workers of
poor quality.

Meaningful extension policy

There may be only a few countries, like Bangladesh, in the Region that have formulated an
extension policy. The existence of policy ensures political commitment, which ascertains
financial allocation. The dismally low salaries and operational budgets, and a lack of career
development path have been the fate of extension profession for decades, and it is high time to
change this pattern through formulation of extension policies within the framework of broader
national agricultural and rural development policies. The formulation of extension policy should
be a collaborative effort, involving all stakeholders, and should take into consideration not only
technical issues but also professional development concerns with an aim to provide motivation
and morale to extension workers. It should also include the operational linkages and partnerships
between extension and other relevant service institutions such as related to research, marketing,
environment, commodities, farm inputs, rural credit, agricultural education and training, farmer
associations, and information technology.

Proper place for extension after decentralization

While decentralization is a step in the right direction, it has proved to be disastrous for
agricultural extension in several Asian countries as is evident in Philippines and Indonesia. The
issue of the temptation of each autonomous district or municipality to go in its own direction
without any regard for national policy and priorities is serious, but what has damaged extension
most is the unwarranted influence and interference of local politicians and the mentality of local
decision-makers and legislators, who cannot appreciate the importance of extension in rural and
agricultural development. This has resulted in the diversion of extension budget to other
activities, assigning of extension staff to non-extension tasks, and use of its few beaten-down
equipment and vehicles for personal purposes. Since the local decision-makers mostly depend on
central government for their financial needs, their preference is ruled by their strong temptation
to earn revenue in order to reduce the dependency. Agricultural extension is understandably a
slow process as it aims at changing human behavior and generally does not show quick and
tangible benefits. The local decision-makers, who are elected for two to three years term, prefer
to select activities like livestock and estate crops, which give sizable, tangible and relatively
quick returns, or to build roads and shopping centre’s, which could win voters' appreciation. This
rather narrow mentality of local decision-makers, most of whom have limited education, needs to
be changed through proper education, sensitization and orientation to the importance and
eventual benefits of extension. Unless this important group is "converted", agricultural extension
will remain marginalized, or might altogether disappear, under decentralized administration. The
experiences and lessons that FAO has learned so far in decentralization should be brought to the
attention of policy-makers in other Asian countries like Pakistan and Iran where devolution has
just started so that necessary safeguards could be built for meaningfully retaining human
behavioral disciplines like extension.

Assessment of the impact of extension

Agricultural extension services have to prove their worth to the farmers so that the latter could
constitute a strong lobby for extension workers during the times of austerity measures like
budget cuts or staff reduction. This can be best done by showing the positive impact of extension
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advice in the form of higher crop yields, increased use of farm inputs, productive use of farm
credit, improvement in decision making capability of farmers, satisfaction of women farmers'
extension needs, active participation of farmers in extension program development, constructive
programs for rural youth, introduction of off-season income-generating activities for rural men
and women, readily available advice on marketing, demonstrated increase in farmers' income,
and overall reduction in rural poverty. There has always been concern for the difficulties faced in
objective evaluation and impact assessment of agricultural extension programs. The isolation of
the impact of extension in an agricultural development program is no easier task than catching a
fish with bare hands. The need for impact assessment has recently gained more attention. The
reasons may be, among others, reallocation of priority status to agriculture sector, the recognition
of usefulness of extension in future development programs, and the quantitative justification
needed by donors and governments for further investment in agricultural extension. The social
scientists in the Region must meet the challenge of working out appropriate methodologies and
tools for measuring the impact of agricultural extension efforts.

Educating farmers in globalization, liberalization and biotechnology issues

Presently, no one is educating the farmers in the issues related to globalization, and liberalization
of markets, and biotechnology which are sooner or later going to affect their communities. For
example, China has been admitted to WTO, and this major development is bound to result in
significant reconsideration of present national policies and procedures of agricultural production,
agro-processing, storage, marketing, and quality control. China's national extension system must
be equipped with necessary knowledge and skills to start educating farmers in possible effects
and expectations resulting from the country's entry into WTO. The issue of farm subsidies will
also surface within the context of liberalization of markets. Special training courses are needed
for extension agents to enable them to properly educate the farmers. Similarly, it may seem a bit
premature at this moment, but the time is not too far when farmers will be asking extension
agents the questions about biotechnology and genetic engineering. Extension services should
start developing necessary training and capacity building programs in these areas.

Situation-specific extension methodologies

By and large, the countries of Asia and the Pacific Region have been using for decade’s top-
down extension methodologies, Training and Visit (T & V) system of extension being the main
one. Another major, popular methodology has been Farmer Field School, which was initially
used for integrated pest management projects in Philippines and Indonesia. Basically, both of
these extension methodologies were not developed locally but "imported", and in spite of some
good features, suffer from a common weakness of being too costly, hence their questionable
sustainability. Unfortunately, there has been little zeal for developing situation-specific
methodologies as the Region does not seem to have gone beyond those two extension
approaches. One fact established through observations and experience, beyond any doubt, is that
no single extension methodology, no matter how successful in certain situation, is suitable for all
situations. The situation comprises people and their characteristics, farming patterns,
geographical location and spread of population, institutions, and so many other factors, which are
to be kept in mind while developing an appropriate extension methodology. Therefore, a country
like Nepal, which has plains, high mountains, irrigated areas, and rain fed areas, could rightly
end up with several extension methodologies to cover each unique set of circumstances.
Similarly, the extension strategies will be different for people who farm in the Pacific islands.
The recent extension reform movement has identified some useful principles, which cut across
all situations and may be used to develop specific extension methodologies. What is needed is a
normative framework, based on those common principles, which may be used by Asian countries
for developing extension methods suiting their individual situations.

Inter-institution linkages for integrated approach

Most countries in the Region are still faced with the persistent problem of poor linkages between
research and extension. Agricultural extension, or for that matter any other agricultural
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discipline, cannot single-handedly bring about rural and agricultural development. The required
inter-institution linkages are not just those between research and extension, but also between
agricultural extension and farm input suppliers, rural credit agencies, marketing channels,
transportation companies, storage facilities, agricultural academic institutions, weather forecast
offices, rural development agencies, agricultural commodity research institutes, etc. The
objective of establishing the linkages is to enable the extension agents to have ready access to the
information needed to help farmers in making decisions. The inter-institution linkages will also
help in developing an integrated, inter-disciplinary and comprehensive extension program for the
benefit of farmers. These linkages may be through periodic meetings, regular exchange of
information, and through electronic information technology. Such linkages are still non-existent,
or are very poor, and their establishment and strengthening presents a challenge to the
professional community.

Unified and integrated extension service

Although steps are being taken in some countries of the Region for unification of extension
services, yet it is both surprising and disappointing that in most of the countries, there is still a
strong tendency towards multiple extension services, one for each major technical discipline. In
the Philippines, where extension services have been decentralized many years ago, and where
extension covers both agriculture and fisheries, the livestock component has been left out, and
for some reason is still covered by veterinarians. One main weakness of the otherwise very
successful Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Project in Indonesia was its creation of a parallel
IPM mini-extension service rather than mainstreaming the IPM concepts into the national
agricultural extension system in the interest of sustainability and institution-building.
The expected challenges in implementing multi-disciplinary, integrated extension organization
are expected to be effective coordination, resistance to the temptation of each technical
department to have its own extension service, in-service training of field extension agents in a
number of technical disciplines, and designing of an appropriate mechanism for technical
backstopping of field extension agents by subject-matter specialists.

Extension advisory services for Central Asia

The creation of suitable extension advisory services in all countries of Central Asia remains a
challenge. The countries, which exercised socialist policies for a very long period, are struggling
to shift to market-oriented economy. With the privatization of state farms, and distribution of
land among public, hundreds of thousands of private landowners have become a reality. These
new "farmers" have little knowledge of profitable farming and are in desperate need of technical
advice. They also need assistance in agro-processing, rural tourism and marketing. The Soviet
Union, which used to be a guaranteed market for agricultural produce for these countries, is long
gone. There is, however, no source of sound technical advice for rural communities. The
extension advisory services comprise mostly those persons who worked as specialists on state
farms or elsewhere in very narrow agricultural disciplines, and as such, have no knowledge or
experience in comprehensive farm management. Worse still, some donors are pushing these
countries for starting private extension services, which does not make much sense under present
circumstances. Unless appropriate national extension systems are established through
institutional reforms, backed up by national policies outlined within the context of comparative
agricultural advantage of different countries within the region, these countries would not be able
to exploit their full potential in agriculture.

Educating farmers in sustainable development

During 1960s, the green revolution was the result of cultivating high yielding varieties, and
application of high doses of fertilizers and pesticides. That recipe for gaining high yields is
currently under criticism due to its unfriendliness towards conservation of environment and
natural resources. This is the reason that the technologies like Integrated Pest Management and
Integrated Crop Management have received more favorable attention. The rural population in
Asia, which incidentally constitutes one third of the world's total population, depends almost
13
entirely on three main activities, agriculture, forestry and fisheries, and that means constant
exploitation of these major natural resources. The rapid growth in rural population also takes its
toll. Between 1970 and 1995, in spite of the fact that human fertility declined in most parts of the
world, Asia's population increased by 60%, i.e. an addition of over one billion people.
Agricultural extension services in Asia are faced with the challenge to educate the farmers in
environment sustainability, natural resources management, and organic farming, something they
are not used to. FAO has successfully demonstrated that environment education, population
education and agricultural production can be incorporated into ongoing extension programs, with
positive results.

Looking beyond technology transfer focus

The mandate of almost all the national agricultural extension services in Asia and the Pacific
remains the transfer of agricultural technology. As long as a new technology can raise yields, it
will be fervently promoted by the extension agents, without any thoughts to its environmental
friendliness. As there are calls for broadening the technical scope of extension, keeping the entire
focus on just agricultural technology transfer is a case of short sightedness. There is pressing
need that extension starts educating farmers in the interrelationship among agricultural
production, food security, population, and environment. This indirect approach is far more
promising than giving blunt messages to farmers on family planning, environment protection and
increasing production. The changes in the world also demand that the Asian extension services
engage in developing the human capacities of farmers, which go beyond technology. They
should educate men and women farmers in subjects like problem solving, decision making,
management, accounting, group dynamics, leadership, participation, gender sensitiveness, rural
youth development, comprehension of market forces, good governance, citizenship, initiative
and self help, nutrition, program planning, monitoring and evaluation, applicable information
technology, importance of education for children especially for girls, networking with other
village organizations and farmer associations, etc. Obviously, this broader mandate will require
appropriate in-service training of the extension staff and necessary adjustments in the curricula
of formal education in agricultural extension.

Putting information technology in service of extension

The revolution in information technology must benefit extension. The benefits could take many
forms. Interactive electronic linkages may be established between extension and relevant
institutions. Extension data bases may be created, containing information on last few years'
prices of various commodities and projections for the near future, climatic record on climate for
the last few years and any expected unusual weather pattern in the near future, main agricultural
technologies, contact mailing and e-mail addresses, and telephone numbers of subject-matter
specialists and agricultural produce buyers, demand for grains and vegetables, etc. A variety of
extension and training materials may be prepared with the help of computer, using creative
techniques. Telecentres may be established in the areas, which are not normally covered by
extension agents for reasons like less staff and remote location, ensuring that adequate human
follow-up is available. The efforts to apply information technology should be started at locations
which have necessary infrastructure and pre-requisites. The other areas, obviously, will have to
wait. A note of caution: the information technology should not be considered as a replacement of
human effort in extension, but just as a supporting tool.

Promoting pluralistic and participatory extension

Certain countries in Asia and the Pacific Region already have some sort of pluralistic extension
pattern as, in addition to public extension service, commercial agricultural companies and NGOs
are involved in delivering extension advice. However, there is no well organized system, which
will allow active collaboration of stakeholders in both planning and implementation of extension
programs. Such a system is needed more than ever as more and more countries are introducing
decentralized governments. A clearly defined role of government and suitable coordination and
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quality control mechanism will be needed for any pluralistic extension pattern to safeguard the
interests of farmers.

The participation of men and women farmers in extension program development is generally not
practiced since most of the countries in the Region have been following top-down models of
agricultural extension for years. Necessary training modules and materials need to be developed
for extension staff and stakeholders. Similarly, situation specific participatory extension
methodologies will need to be developed keeping in view the sensitivity of religious, cultural and
social norms. Extension staff should be able to organize special interest groups of men and
women farmers in order to empower them so that they could exercise their group influence in
requesting credit, procuring farm inputs, lobbying for extension services, and in farming and
marketing matters.

Tackling extension privatization issue

The challenge is not to privatize entire extension services for all farmers, but to privatize
extension where it makes sense. Under the present conditions, hundreds of millions of Asian
subsistence farmers are neither able nor willing to pay for extension advice. The accountability
of extension agents to farmers should not be used as an excuse for the privatization of the entire
extension system. If the extension advice is worth paying because it enhances farmers' income,
commercial farmers and farmers associations will be inclined to pay. In case partial privatization
of extension is opted, proper rules, regulations and procedures will be needed both for private
extension advisers and their client farmers to protect the interests and rights of all parties. In
addition, the government will have to take measures for quality control of extension advice to
protect farmers from being exploited. It will be prudent for Asian countries to try various
methods which have been tried elsewhere in the world to lessen burden on public extension
services and encourage non-public parties interested in delivering extension services. Two
methods could be contracting out, i.e. when the government gives contract to other parties for
provision of specific extension services in a specific area for a specific period, or contracting in,
i.e. when the public extension service signs a contract for providing specific extension services
for a certain amount of fee to specific clientele for a specific period. However, the assumption
for trying these methods is that a non-public extension source is available, which is both
technically competent and trustworthy.

Extension's role in disasters

Extension's role in combating major attacks of insect pests and diseases is well known, but so far
there has been none for major disasters. Human-induced and natural disasters have not spared
Asia and the Pacific Region, like many other parts of the world. Afghanistan has been devastated
by long wars and recent earthquakes. Bangladesh, India, China and Philippines have been
experiencing damaging floods, resulting from continued torrential rains. Small islands in the
Pacific have their own calamities from time to time. Extension is normally considered as a peace
time activity. However, given the fact that a large number of farming people are affected by
these disasters, and the surviving ones are anxious to return to their villages and start growing
food, the extension services can launch special campaigns for rehabilitation of agriculture. This
obviously should be done in close collaboration with other agencies, which are responsible for
provision of credit, seed, fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides, and farm equipment. Bringing the
affected farming population back to their feet is a challenge, which has not yet been met by any
extension service in the world. The Asia and the Pacific Region may take lead in this task.

Conclusion:

Asia and the Pacific Region have made recorded progress in developing agricultural
technologies. The green revolution brought wide prosperity to the Region. More recently,
research institutes like IRRI and ICRISAT, which are engaged in biotechnology, are expected to
produce additional technologies. However, these new technologies do not mean much if they
remain confined to research stations and laboratories, and do not reach their real users, i.e.

15
farmers. Out of total two billion rural Asians, 670 million people still live in poverty. Strong
national extension systems, with a broader mandate beyond technology transfer, are needed to
develop the human capabilities and capacities of men and women farmers. The organization,
mandate, and practices of agricultural and rural extension systems are changing worldwide, and
it is vital that this region keep pace with the latest developments. The challenge of introducing
appropriate institutional measures must be accepted by the Asian and the Pacific governments in
order to reform the national agricultural extension systems in response to the global changes,
otherwise the extension services will become obsolete. This is necessary to reiterate, however,
that efficient extension systems alone will not be sufficient for bringing about something like
"green plus revolution". The governments will have to guarantee the availability of additional
ingredients such as environment-friendly technologies, farm inputs, marketing and storage
facilities, and appropriate pricing policies until that globalization stage is reached when open
markets will determine the demand and price of various agricultural commodities.

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Neuchatel Group. Common framework on agricultural extension. Paris: 1999.
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