Potential Option for Agricultural Extension: Post #43

Concepts of Agricultural Extension

As defined by FAO, agricultural extension is a service or system which assists farmers through educational procedures in improving farming methods and techniques, increasing production efficiency and income, bettering their levels of living and lifting the social and educational standards of rural life. Over time, agricultural crop production techniques and technologies keep changing; farmers, therefore, need to have new technical knowhow to use agricultural innovations for achieving potential yields. So, the agricultural extension is the vehicle or system for delivering useful information to farmers and then assisting those farmers to have requisite knowledge, skills and attitudes to make use of this information or technology effectively.

In July 1999, the Mona Reclamation Experimental Project (MREP) in Bhalwal issued a research report entitled: Causes of Variability in Crop Productivity. In spite of being blessed with rich resources of fertile land and good quality surface irrigation water supplies, crop yields are well below their full potential. To understand the discrepancy, this study was conducted to determine the factors that impact negatively on crop yields in Pakistan. In order of most affect, the following causes were identified: requisite technical knowhow; financial constraints; canal water supply in terms of quantity and spatial aspects; social disputes, availability and in-time access to fertilizer, crop disposal and others minor factors.

In this project area, in spite of having traditional extension staff from the agriculture department, private field entities and its own extension unit, the most dominant cause of low productivity was non-availability of required technical information or knowhow for high yielding agriculture. To be precise, 59 % and 68 % farmers did not receive any such crop related technical information in perennial and non-perennial areas, respectively. In other words, agricultural extension systems, public as well as private, opting to provide technical knowhow about new crop production technologies and techniques had only limited success.

Since independence, Pakistan has implemented many extension programs for agriculture and rural development. Being a provincial subject, there is a long list of multi-sectors as well as single sector extension models that were tried, one after another and often in overlapping manner, in the public domain. Despite being well-intentioned and comprehensively designed programs, these efforts have been criticized for their poor performance as they all fell well short of set objectives.  As per relevant literature, some of the weaknesses of such programs include:

·         Ineffective and unreliable input supply system,

·         Lack of required linkages with research,

·         Inadequate training of extension staff,

·         Lack of mobility, and

·         Lack of adequate incentives.

Some other researchers and extension specialists have also identified factors concerning low performance and capability of public extension models like:

·         Poorly motivated staff,

·         A preponderance on non-extension duties,

·         Inadequate operational funds,

·         Lack of relevant technology,

·         Top-down planning,

·         Centralized management, and

·         General absence of accountability.

For the past two decades, due to increasing trends towards privatization, the agricultural extension system is undergoing a substantial change. From 1980s, the private sector was involved in supplying agricultural inputs to farmers. In 1988, according to the recommendations of the National Commission on Agriculture, this role was further enhanced to include full extension package rather than simply the earlier involvement based on supplying inputs.

By dismantling public monopoly on supplying inputs and services to farmers, in addition to financial constraints, the assumption was that a transition from subsistence to commercial agriculture in Pakistan can be facilitated through an active involvement of the private corporate sector. On the surface, this policy change assumed that private business interests and competition with services in public sector should improve performance of all concerned in ushering the second green revolution in the country. However, except being a marketing convenience, the private sector has not demonstrated any glaring improvement in providing knowhow, skills and new techniques to the farming community in general and small farmers in particular. In spite of the combined efforts of private sector, public and WAPDA’s extension staff, as reported in the earlier referred report, this gap of technical knowhow is too wide to claim any success in the choice area.

As a consequence, researchers and extension specialists have conducted case studies to identify missing links in the performance of both sectors, public and private agricultural extension services. One such comparative study of both extension models practiced in Pakistan provides the following insights and findings:

·         The public and private extension systems offer competing, conflicting and overlapping programs.

·         Both public and private extension systems rely on a strategy of contact farmers, which severely limits the diffusion of information.

·         Private sector extension is more concerned with serving the needs of larger, resource-rich farmers to the exclusion of other farmers because of its primary interest in gathering profits.

·         Public sector extension is biased towards better educated farmers, although not necessarily towards those with large landholdings.

During the sixties, the first green revolution took place. At that time too, all the above stated disincentives & negative factors were there to resist change. However, a very effective public program of agricultural extension did play its significant role to make things happen. It may be difficult to revisit all field campaigns after 50 years but humongous amount of relevant literature bears testimony for an unparalleled contribution that was made by the then extension staff under the visionary and dedicated leadership of a person like Malik Khuda Bukhsh Bucha. More recently, a similar role has been played by Mr. Mushtaq Gill in promoting on-farm water management in Punjab.

Of course, the impact on the staff performance because of disincentives and negative factors cannot be ignored but absence of an institutional arrangement to ensure provision of a dynamic, dedicated and visionary leadership at the top is another very significant factor. Because there is no system in place to groom new such leaders to carry the ball forward, occasional able leadership is followed by those who are not capable, competent or confident enough to lead effectively.  As a result, these routine types of top-men spend most of their time trying to survive and they are left with hardly any time to deliver results.  

In the context of agricultural extension, leadership is meant to have result-oriented efficient managers. According to a study conducted by IIMI in Sudan for an entire technical ministry, it was startling to note that except for the lowest two levels of the ministry staff, most of staff did not use their technical knowledge that often as compared to managerial responsibilities.  This phenomenon is true in Pakistan as well. This is an interesting point to keep in mind when we get trained in one area and end up undertaking responsibilities that require additional skills and knowledge too.

Realizing this deficiency, the top-men are usually selected from the Central Services of Pakistan. This cadre is well trained in administration of inputs, rather than management to achieve set goals, as the system has been inherited from the colonial mind-set of pre-independence days. This modality also did not deliver as the non-technical background along with input based mindset came in the way of result-oriented management of technical departments.  Had there been a strategy put in place to impart management training after each promotion from bottom up, we would have groomed very competent and efficient technical managers in the country.

 However, all of the above stated factors are mere symptoms rather than root-causes of the disease called inefficient and ineffective agricultural extension in Pakistan. Unless such efforts are not re-oriented, redirected and organization structure re-arranged as per job requirements, as our experience of past many decades show, it will be very difficult to usher the second green revolution in this country. It is perhaps not appropriate to prescribe potential options to follow but certainly there can be many important ingredients of such options that can be shared for future consideration.

Local Context and Adaptability of Extension Models:  Traditional services of agricultural extension remained in practice from 1902 until the Training and Visit (T&V) system was introduced in this part of the sub-continent. Before 1961, agricultural extension was an integral part of formal agriculture education and extension. After the separation of agricultural extension from education and research, lack of ties with research resulted. Without any provision of functional and effective linkages, all three components have suffered over time. Although the T&V System has tried to link extension with research but it got a very limited success due to sealed boundaries of relevant wings.

Moreover, the T& V System ignored our context where land reforms never took place in reality. As a consequence of this overlooked factor, the new system institutionalized the delivery of extension services, in most cases, to the influential and well-off farmers only. There was hardly any trickle-down effect as this elite-group had an inherited trait of possessiveness as per Mughal traditions.

 To save excessive financial outlays and to improve performance of extension, education and research; it appears that old integrated model was much better to follow.  However, the current ground realities may not permit to let it revised with some adjustments. In view of the consensus over effective linkages between these three aspects, an alternative for consideration  is to put in place a bottom-up mechanism where all three wings converge to provide related services as per demands of clientele i.e., farmers.

Community Controlled Services: As an earlier rural / agricultural development project, Village-AID, got very positive response because of community involvement through beneficiaries’ participation. Similarly, countries like Taiwan and Philippines have benefited from farmers’ associations in implementing their agricultural extension programs. Instead of only assisting selected groups, the programs let the whole community benefit from new agricultural knowledge, innovations and skills; the agricultural extension and research is to be channelized through community bodies called Farmers’ Organizations (FOs). As these organizations represent farmers at each secondary canal in the Indus Basin of Pakistan, this should also help to synchronize the administrative and hydraulic boundaries of agriculture and irrigation departments for effective delivery of respective inputs and services to farmers within canal commands.

Re-orientation, Accountability and Revamping of Agriculture Departments: Perhaps it is equally applicable to many other agencies in our country, the agricultural extension staff are supposed to provide services to the farmers as per their felt needs; but, in reality, they simply pass on, mostly irrelevant, out-dated and ill-timed prescriptions as conceived by their bosses. On the other hand, in any private service entity, service orientation and accountability are always granted rights of their customers or clients.

Bringing in the client orientation and accountability within the public sector is a huge challenge to deal with. If clients and administrative arrangements are different, obviously, service based accountability in a sustainable manner becomes next to impossible. Under the current context, this may require re-engineering of the existing provincial agricultural departments.

One option would be that funds allocated for the support-staff be transferred to FOs to hire field staff like field assistants. For example, according to the funding provision in 1996 for the field staff in Punjab only, four field assistants, three from the extension and one from research wing, can be provided for each secondary canal command. All provincial agricultural universities must conduct training workshops within the command area of each secondary canal on regular basis. If similar to the proposed option of re-structuring is put in place, in addition to achieving the desired objective of re-orientation and accountability to the farmers, this arrangement can also facilitate an effective integration of extension, research and educational and irrigation water supply services once and for all.

Extension Services for Surface Irrigation Water Management: In simple terms, irrigation water management consists of determining when to irrigate, what amount of water to be applied during different stages of plant growth, and to ensure effective operation and maintenance of the on-farm irrigation system. In reality, the effectiveness of most other agricultural inputs is mainly dependent upon the improved irrigation management at field level. Have there been extension services targeted to improve irrigation management?  The answer is an emphatic NO.

To be fair, the public sector did support successfully On-Farm Water Management program over the last three decades. Each provincial On-Farm Water Management unit has delivered results in the form of creating physical conditions as pre-requisite for better irrigation management. There was a conscious effort made to establish management condition too in the form of Water Users’ Associations at watercourse level. However, these management conditions withered out after the improvement of watercourses. In the process, there was not much emphasis on ensuring proper follow up of the physical and management activities and results. In other words, these units remained mainly development entities aimed at creating conducive physical conditions only.

Again we observe an absence of linking irrigation management units with their respective extension wings. Although both extension and on-farm water management wings are part of the provincial agriculture departments, there exists no linkage to delivering irrigation extension services to the farmers. Interesting to note that even in agriculture departments, the directorate boundaries are too sealed to exchange irrigation extension services to farmers.

As in the past, extension has remained confined to agronomic aspect only; there has been no capacity and capability to provide such services. With the introduction of T & V program in the country, a water management specialist was also included, but confined to the district level. Obviously, this level is too remote to be effective.

One option to promote irrigation extension is to let FOs hire field assistants for irrigation extension at each secondary canal level as was proposed for research and extension staff. Each provincial government can divert support staff funds from water management units to FOs. On-Farm Water Management Training Centers should train persons as field assistants in irrigation extension on a regular basis. The senior staff of these wings can continue the supervision of on-going physical works under district governments plus provide back up support for irrigation extension in the field.

Extension Services for Groundwater Management: Creating awareness and generating guidelines for better extraction, delivery and exclusive or conjunctive use of groundwater for raising crops are totally left to the farmers’ own traditional experiences only. It is interesting to note that more than 50% of the water supplies at field level come from the ground aquifer/(s). In spite of the fact that there existed all relevant physical conditions for the use of groundwater, there is no organization and similar other management conditions present to ensure proper groundwater management. As a next step, management activities follow like decision making, monitoring evaluation and feedback. The product of management activities are management results like manuals and guidelines. For an effective extension service for groundwater use, information packages are these research based manuals and guidelines that are pre-requisite for creating site-specific groundwater management.

To start with, as one option, all provincial on-farm water management units should take responsibility to get involved in groundwater management. Soil Survey of Pakistan, an almost dysfunctional body, should prepare salinity and layout maps within each secondary canal based on individual watercourses. Provincial Soil Fertility Units should follow and prepare atlases showing characteristics of salinity, sodicity of groundwater as a function of depth to water-table.  This should also be done on each watercourse and secondary canal commands. These data then become a source for preparing manuals and guidelines for groundwater management for particular locations. On regular basis, groundwater management officials from the provincial water management outfits can go to specific secondary canals and FOs to create awareness and impart skills for sustainable development of groundwater conditions and its use.

Agriculture Extension by the Private Sector:  Letting the private sector contribute in creating awareness about new techniques and innovations for the promotion of profitable agriculture was a good strategic decision. However, as some comparative case studies have found, the inbuilt prime profit motive has confined the utility of this sector only within a limited but resource-rich part of the farming community. What a coincidence that on the one hand the public program ended up institutionalizing the access to new knowledge to a mostly well educated select group while the private sector got hooked to the large and resourceful farmers because of the intrinsic traits on either case.

Pesticide and fertilizer companies, local as well as multi-national, are responsible for the involvement of the private sector in agriculture extension. As a consequence, the sales persons of these companies, in most cases, are bound to promote, intentionally or unintentionally, their own product even if there exists a better and more user and environment–friendly alternative. This vested interest is so prevalent that even the integrated pest management packages, clearly well supported by national and international researchers to minimize the use of pesticides, have hardly been promoted by these private companies. Similarly, the fertilizers which are more suitable for acidic soils are just as equally and emphatically promoted for the alkaline soils of Pakistan as well.  To be fair, why should it be otherwise? Promoting alternatives would undercut their business – it’s as simple as that.

Of course, there is no second opinion about the immense utility of having private sector involved in activities related to agricultural extension. However, there is need to ensure that those companies be encouraged who do not have a vested business interests that can, intentionally or unintentionally, avoid testing, demonstrating and promoting better alternatives for higher yields, users and environment friendly outcomes. For example, if seed companies are forbidden from getting involved in the sale of fertilizer, pesticides or herbicides, their assigned role in agricultural extension may avoid the pitfalls that are identified with current involvement of chemical and fertilizer companies in the country. Along with public agriculture extension staff, these seed companies are expected to be relatively neutral and more objective in seeking alternative solutions as compared to those whose job it is to sell their own pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers.

Role of Information Media for Agriculture Extension:  For the dissemination of information, electronic media like radio and TV and print media are effective vehicles. As agricultural extension is also a vehicle or system for delivering useful information to farmers and then assisting those farmers to have requisite knowledge, skills and attitudes to make use of this information or technology effectively, the critical role that the information media can play is abundantly clear.

Among the three categories, use of radio for agricultural extension cannot be denied.  However, radio has started losing its charm even in the rural settings.  Because of the satellite age, even rural people have switched to Television. So, instead of letting this means of delivering information remain focused on urban issues, its effective use for agricultural development to alleviate poverty in our 70% rural sector must not be ignored.

In Pakistan, almost all TV channels need commercial adds to do business. Since many national and international companies deal with pesticides, herbicide, seed, fertilizer, farm machinery, agro-products, etc; there should not be any dearth of such financial support. Moreover, all other consumer goods have equally attractive and vast rural markets as a bonus.

There is the possibility of some reluctance of investors to deal with the not- so- glamorous aspect of agricultural development. In light of the alarming forecast of emerging food scenario, this view is bound to change. Moreover, the rural people also need entertainment, information about political development and state of the economy; a proper packaging and declaring a mandate for presenting a rural point of view, issues and solution should secure such channels a huge rural market and satisfaction in promoting a cause for keeping food crises at bay.

Since these channels will be promoting food security for the entire nation, the Government should provide financial incentives as well as technical support from all concern research, educational and extension entities to provide state-of-the-art-knowledge and awareness about agriculture development. For farmers to ask the right questions, such channel must create conducive environment of awareness about their issues and options through such electronic media.

As far as print media is concerned, many weekly, fortnightly and monthly agricultural information based magazines are published in Pakistan. Since such documented information is available whenever needed by all concerned, the Government should help by all means to provide this documented information to farmers for effective promotion of agricultural extension.

Bottom Line: This writer has focused on re-orienting, restructuring and redirecting the systems of improved agricultural extension, both in private and public sectors, by proposing an effective control of beneficiaries through Farmers Organizations already established at many canal commands of three major provinces of Pakistan. Unless the farming communities of different canal commands are not empowered to control and hold accountable all concerned sources of extension services, both in private and public sectors, rapid improvements in the agriculture sector are difficult to achieve.