Evolution of country-specific investment requirements of agricultural and rural extension and advisory services

Abstract

The developing world witnessed an extraordinary period of food crop productivity growth over the past 50 years, despite increasing land scarcity and rising land values. Although populations had more than doubled, the production of cereal crops tripled during this period, with only a 30 percent increase in land area cultivated. The Green Revolution brought high-yielding varieties of cereal grains, expansions of irrigation infrastructure, modernization of management techniques, distribution of improved seeds, synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, yet was characterized by regional differences in performance (Wik, Pingali and Brocai, 2008). Within this context two important externalities emerged: the environmental and the socioeconomic impacts of the change. The slowdown in yield growth that has been observed since the mid-1980s can partially be attributed to degradation of agricultural resources. At the same time, transition from traditional agriculture, just like the industrial revolution in the 19th century and the informatics revolution in the turn of the 21st century, also increased economic disparities, with a widening gap between rich and poor. The poorest producers are the most vulnerable to losing their farmland due to debt, while the increased level of mechanization removed a large source of employment from the rural economy (Oasa, 1987). Faced by these risks, farmers are often returning to subsistence cultivation, rendering them more vulnerable to weather variability due to climate change. Some regions were able to adopt Green Revolution technologies faster than others for political and geographical reason, so inter-regional economic disparities also increased.

For many of the currently more than 1.1 billion people that are living in poverty, economic growth based primarily on agriculture and on non-farm rural activities, is essential to improve their livelihoods. The majority of the poor (over 70 percent live in rural areas), includes subsistence farmers, herders, fishers, migrant workers, artisans and indigenous people (IFAD, 2011). Promoting agricultural growth in rural areas and giving rural people better access to land, water, credit, health and education, is essential to alleviate poverty and hunger, to feed the growing population and address its changing consumption patterns. (FAO, 2009). Yet, agricultural growth will depend in the future less on input and land increase, but increasingly on total factor productivity, i.e. the performance of institutions, including research, extension and advisory services, and infrastructure (roads, ICTs, etc.) (Fuglie, 2012).