Models for private and public extension cooperation; as applicable to Ethiopian system

The study on the extension activities of the private sectors in farm production and marketing was conducted during the year 2001/02 in the Karnataka state of India. In the study, investigating the roles of several actors was the key objective. Starting from the term itself, extension can mean different thing to different people within different situations, but in common it can be described as the process of assisting farmers to become aware of and adopt improved technologies to increase their production efficiency, income and development of life situation in general. As a principle, extension recommendation must be relevant to the conditions of the client regardless of the methods used. This in turn necessitates the condition that extension must understand the characteristics of target farming system and the factors that impinge on these systems. According to this study, given the increasing tendency for the government to look for ways of increasing efficiency and effectiveness in transfer of technology and decreasing their expenditure on agricultural extension, supplementing sectors such as private firms and NGOs were found to have significant role in the system. Appreciating the role of public and private sectors, the study recommends appropriate adjustment of the public roles to the current demand of farming communities. Accordingly, three basic models for cooperation of public and private sectors were identified to help agricultural development of developing countries. These models are; 1) Government efforts: this appreciates integrated extension through effective communication and farm approach, 2) Government- Private firms - Individual. Efforts: under this, some form of commercialization of extension service is recommended, 3) Government-Private firms-Group efforts: in this model the use of farmer associations is most appreciated. In the analysis of private-public interaction in execution of research and extension programs, public sector was found to have comparative importance in basic research, whereas private sector could effectively and efficiently perform the input delivery activities. Cooperatives on the other hand showed comparative advantage plying significant role in marketing services. Hence, if government encourages these sectors, the service would be more effective and helping. Therefore, the models described in this paper provide wide scope for increasing efficiency and quality of the services given to farmers. It also gives sufficient opportunities for the policy makers to redesign the system through encouraging involvement of private sector in areas where they show comparative advantage. The finding of this study, with its recommendation towards improving extension policy is believed to shed light on the right direction for possible improvement on the existing public extension services.