The purposes of this course are to review the major reforms being considered internationally that aim to change the policy and institutional structure and operations of public sector agricultural extension systems, and to examine the advantages and disadvantages of each of these reforms as illustrated by the selected case studies. Aside from the introductory chapter, the course is organized into nine modules, which are conceived as part of a larger framework.
Agricultural Extension Reforms in South Asia: Status, Challenges, and Policy Options is based on agricultural extension reforms across five South Asian countries, reflecting past experiences, case studies and experiments. Beginning with an overview of historical trends and recent developments, the book then delves into country-wise reform trajectories and presents several cases testing the effectiveness of different types (public and private) and forms (nutrition extension, livestock extension) of extension systems.
Indonesian agriculture is at a crossroads. Supporting the livelihood of millions of Indonesians, it needs to underpin renewed and robust growth of the economy; and be a key component of the Government's poverty alleviation strategy. The challenge for the future is to reinvigorate productivity gains among rural producers, and provide the foundation for long run sustainability of these productivity gains. Productivity gains are key to farmer income growth, and for this rebuilding the research and extension systems that have seen a marked deterioration in recent years will be critical.
In Vietnam, while glutinous rice farming represents a very small sub-sector of rice production, it plays an important role in the food and cultural security of farming households in many remote areas. This paper examined glutinous rice farming in households, as a food and for cultural security, and the extension services in areas producing glutinous rice. Data were collected from 400 local farmers based on interview schedules and statistical analysis using the percentage, arithmetic mean, and hypothesis testing with logistic regression
Literature is scanty on how public agricultural investments can help reducing the impact of future challenges such as climate change and population pressure on national economies. The objective of this study is to assess the medium and long-term effects of alternative agricultural research and development investment scenarios on male and female employment in 14 African countries. The authors first estimate the effects of agricultural investment scenarios on the overall GDP growth of a given country using partial and general equilibrium models.
The Agribusiness and Market Development (AMDe) project is funded through USAID Ethiopia’s Feed the Future program from June 2011 to May 2016. It goal is to sustainably reduce poverty and hunger by improving the productivity and competiveness of agricultural value chains that offer jobs and income activities for rural households.
The purpose of this issues paper is to provide an overview of the issues, numbers, disputes, and approaches so that contributors to SOW11 can share a common framework and consider how the innovations they describe fit into the larger international discourse. The paper is structured as follows: • Section 2 describes diverse perspectives on food security that emphasize global supply chains to feed middle-class populations in cities; smallholder farmers who still supply much of the world; and smallholder farmers who are relatively disengaged in commercial markets.
This paper presents the processes, general guidelines lessons and experiences pertaining to “good practices” for organizing and forming Agricultural Innovation Platforms in the Lake Kivu Pilot Learning Site, covering three countries (Uganda, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo) with widely differing social political environments to address agricultural development challenges.
This background note for the development of an AIS Investment Sourcebook provides a menu of tools and guidance to invest in agricultural innovation in different contexts. The content is drawn on tested good practice examples and innovative approaches with emphasis on lessons learned, benefits and impacts, implementation issues, and replicability
This sourcebook contributes to identifying, designing, and implementing the investments, approaches, and complementary interventions that appear most likely to strengthen Agricultural innovation systems (AIS) and to promote agricultural innovation and equitable growth. It emphasizes the lessons learned, benefits and impacts, implementation issues, and prospects for replicating or expanding successful practices. The information in this sourcebook derives from approaches that have been tested at different scales in different contexts.