"Best Fit": A Framework for Analyzing Pluralistic Agricultural Advisory Services Wor

121 Pages·2006·0.74 MB·English

by  Regina Birner

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors wish to express their gratitude to Jock Anderson and William M.
Rivera, who encouraged the development of the framework presented in this paper and
provided many helpful comments. The authors gratefully acknowledge the feedback
received by the participants of the following meetings where the framework was
presented: the annual meeting of the Neuchâtel Initiative in Berlin on November 8-10,
2005; a seminar held at IFPRI in Washington, D.C. on December 15, 2005; and a
meeting on agricultural extension in Africa organized by the World Bank and the Natural
Resources Institute (University of Greenwich) in London on January 6, 2006. Particular
thanks are due to colleagues around the world who shared their comments on an earlier
version of this paper that was available on the internet. We greatly appreciate the detailed
comments from Gary Alex, Rasheed Sulaiman, Anne van den Ban, and Ahmad Al-
Rimawi. We are also very grateful for the valuable comments from Paul-Mathias Braun
and his team from the sector project “Knowledge Management in Rural Areas” of the
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit GTZ.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.................................................................................................iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS.....................................................................................................v
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES.................................................................................vii
ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................................ix
I. INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................11
II. DEFINITIONS AND CONCEPTS........................................................................16
Defining Agricultural Advisory Services..............................................................16
Pluralistic Agricultural Advisory Services............................................................17
Agricultural Advisory Services as a Component of the Agricultural
Knowledge/ Innovation System.............................................................................20
III. ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK...........................................................................23
Purpose of the Framework.....................................................................................23
Description of the Framework...............................................................................24
Overview..........................................................................................................24
Characteristics of Agricultural Advisory Services..........................................25
Factors that Influence “Best Fit”......................................................................28
Performance and Impact..................................................................................29
Dynamic Perspective.......................................................................................31
IV. RESEARCH APPROACHES................................................................................32
Analyzing the “Fit” of Governance Structures......................................................32
Identifying Factors that Influence the “Fit” of Governance Structures...........32
Empirical Research Approaches......................................................................36
Analyzing Capacity, Organization and Management............................................38
Capacity...........................................................................................................38
Organization and Management........................................................................40
Empirical Research Methods...........................................................................41
Analyzing Agricultural Advisory Methods...........................................................42
Classifying Advisory Methods........................................................................43
Identifying Factors that Influence the “Fit” of Advisory Methods..................44
Empirical Research Methods...........................................................................47
Analyzing the Performance of Agricultural Advisory Services............................49
Measuring Performance...................................................................................49
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Assessing Performance in an Agricultural Innovation System Context..........51
Explaining Performance...................................................................................53
Analyzing the Impact of Agricultural Advisory Services......................................53
Challenges of Impact Assessment...................................................................53
Implications for Research on the Impact of Agricultural Advisory Services..59
Estimating the Costs and Benefits of Advisory Services.......................................62
Analyzing the Process of Reforming Agricultural Advisory Services..................67
V. CONCLUDING REMARKS.................................................................................69
REFERENCES..................................................................................................................70
ANNEX 1. TABLES....................................................................................................79
ANNEX 2. ADVISORY METHODS AND MODELS...............................................83
ANNEX 3. METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES IN ECONOMIC IMPACT
ASSESSMENT..........................................................................................87
LIST OF DSGD DISCUSSION PAPERS.........................................................................97
LIST OF EPTD DISCUSSION PAPERS........................................................................100
LIST OF FCND DISCUSSION PAPERS.......................................................................111
LIST OF ISNAR DISCUSSION PAPERS......................................................................121

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LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
Tables
1. Options for Providing and Financing Pluralistic Agricultural Advisory
Services..................................................................................................................18
2. Studies Evaluating Advisory Methods...................................................................49

Figures
1. Agricultural Advisory Services as Component of an Agricultural
Knowledge and Innovation System.......................................................................22
2 Framework for Designing and Analyzing Agricultural Advisory Services...........26
3. Comparative Efficiency of Different Governance Structures ...............................36

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ABSTRACT
The paper develops a framework for the design and analysis of pluralistic
agricultural advisory services and reviews research methods from different disciplines
that can be used when applying the framework. Agricultural advisory services are defined
in the paper as the entire set of organizations that support and facilitate people engaged in
agricultural production to solve problems and to obtain information, skills and
technologies to improve their livelihoods and well-being. The paper is motivated by the
revived interest in agricultural advisory services in developing countries, and by current
reform trends that have led to pluralistic services. To classify pluralistic agricultural
advisory services, the paper distinguishes between organizations from the public, the
private and the third sector that can be involved in (a) providing and (b) financing of
agricultural advisory services. The framework for analyzing pluralistic agricultural
advisory services presented in the paper addresses the need for analytical approaches that
help policy-makers to identify those reform options that best fit country-specific frame
conditions. Thus, the paper supports a shift from a “one-size-fits-all” to a “best fit”
approach in the reform of public services.
The analytical framework developed in the paper “disentangles” the major
characteristics of agricultural advisory services on which policy decisions have to be
made: (1) governance structures, (2) capacity, management and organization, and (3)
advisory methods. The framework identifies four sets of frame conditions that need to be
considered when deciding on these characteristics: the policy environment, the capacity
of potential service providers, the type of farming systems and the market access of farm
households; and the nature of the local communities, including their ability to cooperate.
The framework suggests an impact chain approach to analyze the performance and the
impact of agricultural advisory services. The farm households play a central role in the
analytical framework as their interaction with the advisory services is critical to both
performance and impact. The framework can be applied in a dynamic perspective to
analyze processes of change over time.
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