Author Description

Assesses agricultural research and extension institutions in Asia and suggests ways to improve their relevance, responsiveness, and cost- effectiveness The tremendous growth in the productivity of Asian farmers over the past few decades attests to the very high returns on investments in agricultural research and extension. This paper reviews the historical performance of the organizations that develop and disseminate agricultural technology in Asia and the challenges now facing them. Among the programs reviewed is the World Bank's training and visit (T & V) system, launched in the 1970s. The author stresses that raising agricultural productivity through new technology is critical to the alleviation of poverty and to assurance of long- term growth in Asia. Equally important over the long term is helping farmers adopt less intensive and more environmentally sound agricultural practices. The author concludes that current institutional mechanisms are inadequate for meeting these challenges, particularly in the face of tighter governmental budgets. He reviews ways to modernize these organizations, particularly those methods that would enable the institutions to use both public sector and private resources more efficiently and would make them more responsive to farmers and other stakeholders.