The purpose of extension is to disseminate advice to farmers. Knowledge gaps contribute to yield gaps. Services and quality inputs are essential productivity-enhancing tools. However, their optimum use requires knowledge. Farmers also need information on prices and markets, post-harvest management, produce quality determinants, and safety standards. Some farmers marshal knowledge themselves. The “resource-poor” majority, growers of much of India’s food, need external, science-based, extension to complement local knowledge. Much debate focuses on how best to achieve the desired outcomes that extension can convey. Many countries have neglected extension and indeed agriculture as a whole. But interest appears to be returning globally, and India is no exception. In 2009, a National Seminar on Agriculture Extension discussed knowledge management, convergence of extension systems, the role of information and communication technology and mass media, private sector initiatives including public–private partnerships, and farmer- and market-led extension systems. This article builds on that discussion. It looks at extension in relation to both primary production and market links, and acknowledges the contributions of all providers of extension, public and private.
Agriculture in Africa is not sustainable because average yields have been stagnating for decades due to underinvestment, especially in the development of agricultural markets, crop improvement and the sustainable management of agricultural systems. Low public sector funding for agricultural research and lack of incentives for the private sector to operate in areas where there is no market largely explain the yield gap in many food-importing developing countries. Yet, there are effective ways in which the public and the private sector could work together and jointly improve agricultural sustainability in poor countries. The public sector provides a favorable institutional environment for the development of agricultural markets and investment in rural infrastructure, facilitates local business development and funds research with local relevance. The private sector, in return, brings its considerable expertise in product development and deployment. This article illustrates how new forms of public-private partnerships (PPPs) for agricultural development can work in challenging environments. It discusses three promising examples of PPPs in which the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture (SFSA) is actively involved, and shows that an experimental approach can sometimes be more effective than social planning in efforts to achieve sustainable agriculture.
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