The World Bank support to agricultural extension and advisory services

Riikka Rajalahti, Senior Agricultural Specialist, The World Bank

Agricultural extension and rural advisory services provide critical access to the knowledge and information that rural people need to increase the productivity and sustainability of their production systems, and thus improve the quality of their lives and livelihoods. Advisory services can also play a significant role in risk management by providing timely information on weather, diverse pests, input use, markets, and by improving knowledge of agricultural practices that enable producers to make sound decisions on production such as planting, variety selection, pest management, harvesting etc. Better knowledge sharing and improved use of available information and knowledge for desired changes are also at the center of agricultural innovation systems.

A variety of public and private extension and advisory services are available to producers today. The private sector - often agrodealers and processors – usually finance extension and other services for specific objectives, inputs and/or value chains. Similarly, farmer organizations, informal farmer trainers, and civil society, either through close coordination or by contracting them to provide services are playing an important role. Similarly, the World Bank supports our clients’ efforts to develop and/or strengthen demand-driven, pluralistic (multi-actor) and decentralized extension and rural advisory services that can facilitate access to information and provide demand-driven, accountable services to diverse clients. For further information on the World Ban support of extension and advisory services, see Box 1.

Box 1: The World Bank supports our clients’ efforts to develop and/or strengthen demand-driven, pluralistic (multi-actor) and decentralized extension and rural advisory services that can facilitate access to information and provide demand-driven, accountable services to diverse clients. While private sector and other non-public actors have an ever increasing role in extension, many tasks of extension still have a public goods nature, warranting public support. Such tasks relate to regulation & quality control of services and service providers, the overall coordination and technical backstopping of service providers, (co)funding of the provision of advisory services particularly targeting natural resource management, small-holders and marginal groups, and monitoring and evaluation.

Decentralization and the demand for market-oriented services have heightened the need involve new skills, tools and actors in service provision. Similarly, ICTs have created more options for providing advisory services and are increasingly used to circulate market, price, and weather information and to offer specific kinds of extension advice. Some of the key investment areas for the World Bank extension program support include capacity-building for individual extension workers and organizations in market-oriented extension, in group and organizational development, in extension methods and use of ICT, in agribusiness, and mechanisms to share information.

Apart from supporting pluralism, most programs widely acknowledge the need to build social capital among farmers, pay greater attention to the needs of women and youth, and facilitate better links to markets. From 1991 to 2012 about USD3.9 billion in World Bank lending was directed towards extension and advisory services. Returns on this investment have been generally good, helping countries meet food needs, conserve natural resources, and develop human and social capital. Some efforts have centered on strengthening the national extension systems, such as FEAT in Indonesia, INCAGRO in Peru and KAPAPP in Kenya, but often support to extension is integrated to a wider set of agriculture & rural activities.

The World Bank support to extension and advisory services increasingly aims to build social capital, be inclusive, and reach economies of scale, i.e. delivery of services to organized men and women producers, as well as to complement the traditional extension approaches with ICT enabled services, i.e. providing cost-effective and timely services. While risk management has not been an objective per se, in effect the activities support produces ability to improve resilience and manage risk. Two project examples illustrate the World Bank extension efforts. In Peru, the Peru Agriculture Research and Extension Project (INCAGRO), has strengthened the market for inclusive agricultural innovation services, increased strategic competencies in agricultural research for development, and promoted the institutionalization of policies, information, and the quality of extension services. 

In Nigeria, the Third National Fadama Development Project supports extension service delivery to groups of poor farmers on topics identified by the farmer groups. The project also has initiated an e-extension pilot called the Fadama Information, Knowledge Service – that is expected to significantly improve delivery of timely information on weather, crop production, livestock management and market prices. The producers can also receive one-on-one services by calling to a Farmer Call Center for expert advice. Such improved access to services overall, and the timeliness of the information are expected to improve productivity and resilience of agriculture in the largely rainfed areas.

The World Bank remains committed to assisting its client countries in strengthening their rural extension and advisory services as an important element of agricultural innovation systems and strategies that promote agricultural development, growth and poverty reduction.

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