Agricultural Extension Reforms In South Asia

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. Further, the book provides a comprehensive overview of challenges and constraints faced in formulating and implementing reforms, tying the results into a concrete set of lessons and highlighting areas that require further research. In addition, the book discusses how a major aspect of agricultural development is the productivity increase from the knowledge base of farmers, and how translating research results into a knowledge base for farmers requires designing and implementing well-functioning extension programs. Presents the current challenges and solutions by region, and provides insights for application in global settings Provides key foundational information for the effective and efficient design of future intervention programs Includes workshops and presentations based on real-world research of specific aspects of extension systems and provision of advisory and consultation services to various governments

Debates about public expenditure in the agricultural sector have reopened in many developing and emerging economies because of high budget deficits and changes in public opinion. As a result, agricultural policy in many of these countries is beginning to take a more market-oriented approach to agrarian problems, most notably through the introduction of contract farming. This book explores the policy issues around contract farming and its transformative potential and addresses the lack of empirical research on this topic by focusing on South Asia: principally India, Bangladesh and Nepal. The book first addresses the effects of contract farming (vertical coordination) on productivity, food security indicators (yield, consumption expenditures, prices), employment and input usage. Then it draws lessons from the South Asian case studies on the impact of institutional changes, like contract farming, on income and food security of smallholder households. The core of the book includes case study chapters on several commodities that are produced under contract farming, including vegetables and fisheries in Bangladesh, low-value crops in Nepal and coffee in India. Other chapters also explore contracts, storage, input usage and technical efficiency in these cases. This book serves as an essential guide to academics, researchers, students, legislative liaisons and think tank groups interested in agrarian issues, agricultural economics and agricultural policy in emerging economies and particularly in South Asia.

What Will Be The Impact Of The Economic Reforms On The Countless Villages Of Bangladesh, India And Pakistan? To Answer This Issue, The Book Focusses On The Rural Economy And Its Links With The Actual Reforms.

Agriculture is at the forefront of the development objectives of the republics of Central Asia (CA). Since independence in 1991, these countries have undergone transitions from being centrally planned economies to market-oriented systems, which did not include the creation of agricultural extension systems. This paper provides information on the current status of the agricultural extension systems in CA with special reference to Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. We reviewed the existing extension strategies, donor- and state-driven initiatives to revitalize the agricultural extension systems, informal linkages that nongovernmental organizations play in helping a limited number of farmers, and provided recommendations on ways to further improve the agricultural extension services in CA. The information related to each country was analyzed separately. This is because, after independence, each republic in CA had initiated their agricultural reforms with specific objectives and has now established their unique agricultural systems that differ contextually. However, due to having the same history and agricultural system that existed during the Soviet times, we tried to give a historical perspective to the unified agricultural extension system that existed before independence.

Economic policy analysis of the relationship between the political power of local government and productivity in the agricultural sector in South Asia - analyses the impact of social change on sugar cane agricultural production, as well as historical aspects of power structures in India; examines economic implications of local level power configurations, esp. As regards farm-level decision making; discusses determinants and varieties of rural mobilization. References, statistical tables.

Agricultural development in South Asia (a comparative study in the green revolution experiences) is a pioneer work of its own kind and unique in nature. Its salient features are: It is a comprehensive and self-contained study covering an analysis of determinants of agriculture and agricultural attributes -- so, a cause-effect analysis. Agricultural development regions and agro-ecological regions have been delineated, and specific recommendations have been made for redressing the regionalimbalances in levels of agricultural development in the South Asian countries--so a planning-oriented study. The study is based on field truthing, personal communications, district-by-district data etc. The data have been presented in maps enlightening patterns and dynamics of agricultural inputs and outputs, and the cartographic work is of high quality. So far, no such in-depth study has been conducted, covering only the primary activity of the sub-continent and highlighting the green evolution experiences--so, a study related to the then and now as regards agricultural inputs and outputs. It will be a study of great relevance to the SAARC nations for planning purposes and making master plans for reducing regional inequalities in agricultural performance levels. Since this work is a pioneer attempt and is based on the field work and district-by district data covering the green revolution period (1967-68 to 1987-88), it is a work of its own kind and unique in nature. The greatest inequality in the use of agricultural inputs within the borders of South Asia is responsible for agricultural development differences. These range from the poverty in densely populated Bangladesh to agriculturally high-speed Punjab-Haryana region in Northwestern India. Moreover, South Asia includes the cold empties of the high Himalayan ranges where agricultural development has a special meaning. The agricultural face of South Asia has changed at a different rate because the diffusion of green revolution technology was not a universal scale. As a consequence, four levels of agricultural development were observed, such as: Very high level development with high speed change; High/medium level development with high/medium speed change; Low level development with low speed change, and Very low level development with very low speed change. Therefore, it is no longer desirable to write only a static geography of agricultural development of South Asia, and it is also equally important, above, all to examine, explain, identify and understand the recognisable ceaseless patterns of change in agricultural development levels.

In this volume leading historians and economists from India and the West consider some persistent features and variable forces which explain changes through their impact on different levels of decision-making in agriculture. New light is cast on both the pre-colonial periods, and on currentdevelopment policies and problems.