Training And Research For Extended Rural Development In Asia

"The paper reviews the origins and evolution of the Training and Visit (T&V) extension system, which was promoted by the World Bank in 1975-98 in over 50 developing countries. The discussion seeks to clarify the context within which the approach was implemented, and to analyze the causes for its lack of sustainability and its ultimate abandonment. The paper identifies some of the challenges faced by the T&V approach as being typical of a large public extension system, where issues of scale, interaction with the agricultural research systems, inability to attribute benefits, weak accountability, and lack of political support tend to lead to incentive problems among staff and managers of extension, and limited budgetary resources. The different incentives and outlook of domestic stakeholders and external donor agencies are also reviewed. The main cause of the T&V system's disappearance is attributed to the incompatibility of its high recurrent costs with the limited budgets available domestically, leading to fiscal unsustainability. The paper concludes with some lessons that apply to donor-driven public extension initiatives, and more generally to rural development fads. The role of timely, independent, and rigorous evaluative studies is specifically highlighted. "--World Bank web site.

This book synthesizes results from a 7-year programme of applied research on community-based approaches to natural resource management in Asia. By presenting field reports of innovative approaches to poverty reduction and sustainable resource use, it provides practitioners with models of ""good practice"" in participatory, community-based resource management, and it demonstrates how site-based research contributes to broader learning in the field of natural resource management and policy. There are 11 case studies featured, from some of the most marginal areas of rural China, Mongolia, Laos, V.

Rural development and agricultural development in Asia, based on field studies of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, India and Pakistan - discusses economic development and obstacles posed by urban development, industrialization and modernization; considers alternative development policies. Bibliography, maps.

The productivity growth of farming in Asian countries over the past few decades highlights the high returns on investments in agricultural research and extension made in the region. This publication examines the performance of agricultural research and extension programmes in Asia, including the World Bank's training and visit (TandV) system, the challenges they face, and ways of improving their relevance, responsiveness, and cost- effectiveness. Conclusions reached include the importance of raising agricultural productivity through new technology in order to promote long- term growth and poverty reduction, and the need for less intensive and more environmentally sound agricultural practices.

A comparative study of the impact of increased modernization in the rural sector on seven important developing countries. This book should be of interest to students and lecturers in development studies.