GFRAS s'introduit

The Scope for Policy Reform
Final Report of a Study for the Neuchâtel Initiative

Extension policy in many countries over recent decades has been exclusively production-focused, institutionally monolithic, centrally directed, and organised on the premise that public sector extension structures can effectively reach down to village level. Partly in reaction to this, neoliberal voices have recently urged ‘reform’ in the sense of wide-scale privatisation of extension and removal of the state ‘subsidy’ that it implies.

Agricultural advisory (extension) services are a vital element of the array of market and non-market entities and agents that provide critical flows of information that can improve farmers’ and other rural peoples’ welfare. After a period of neglect, agricultural advisory services have returned strongly to the international development agenda. Apart from their conventional function of providing knowledge for improved agricultural productivity, agricultural advisory services are expected to fulfill a variety of new functions, such as linking smallholder farmers to high-value and export markets, promoting environmentally sustainable production techniques, and coping with the effects of HIV/AIDS and other health challenges that affect agriculture. Therefore, it is highly appropriate that the WDR 2008 acknowledges the roles and the challenges of an effective evolution of agricultural advisory services in the coming decades.

L’Aquila Food Security Initiative (AFSI)

The Scope for Policy Reform
Inception Report of a Study for the Neuchâtel Initiative