Demand for Extension Services in Serbia and Macedonia: A Synthesis Case Study

1
Demand for Extension Services in Serbia and
Macedonia A Synthesis Case Study

• Ian Christoplos
• Prepared on behalf of Sida for the November 2004
  meeting of the Neuchâtel Initiative

2
Short Description of the Case

• Not a review of a single project
• Overview of lessons being learnt
• Focus on the state of the debate in Serbia and
  Macedonia, rather than describing a prevailing
  consensus or policy
• Sida is learning along with its colleagues, no
  models quite yet

3
Short Description of the Case

• Support to Farmers Associations in the Republic
  of Macedonia
• Topola Rural Development Program
• Reka Mleka Integrated Milk and Dairy Development
  Project
• Macedonia Agricultural Advisory Support Programme

4
Short Description of the Case

• Serbia and Macedonia are transitional systems
  that are struggling to determine how to adapt to
  new market realities
• Demands for extension vary depending on whether
  the transition is seen as something positive,
  threatening, permanent or temporary
• No consensus yet as to whether reform is
  inevitable or desirable

5
Short Description of the Case

• Demands are being made by market oriented
  farmers, those struggling for a return to past
  systems and those looking for exits from farming
• The poor generally fall into the latter category,
  especially the youth who rarely see farming as a
  viable future career
• There is uncertainty about how demand should be
  exerted in new structures, or even if it is worth
  bothering to exert demand
• Focus of extension policies is on supply, demand
  is not firmly on the agenda

6
Short Description of the Case

• Demand is male dominated, with more urbanised
  producers having strong influence (beekeepers)
• Special issues relate to the need to balance
  responding to demand with ethnic and gender
  equity issues and the need to ensure youth
  involvement
• Supply is state dominated, but schemes are being
  promoted to shift this to the private sector and
  producer organisations

7
The Demand Side

• The concept of demand-driven extension is new, so
  there is no model yet for formulating demand
• Institutional investments are being made to
  strengthen demands from farmer organisations, but
  heavy handed donor inputs in the past give cause
  for concern about this sustainability fix
• Awareness raising and advocating for
  demand-driven extension must come before
  solutions if national ownership is to be
  maintained

8
The Demand Side Institutional Interventions

• Farmer associations
• Reform of the incentive structures of extension
  providers
• Understanding of methods for listening to and
  soliciting the views of farmers
• Advisor capacities for farm management need
  strengthening (no demand without supply)
• Experimentation with alternative financing
  mechanisms, with particular attention on
  developing ownership for the lessons learnt

9
The Demand Side

• Some supply-side donor projects contradict donor
  policies of promoting New Public Management
  approaches to demand-driven services
• Mixed signals from donors and government means
  that there is little ownership and much
  confusion, especially regarding financial
  procedures
• Easy to see through the gaps in donor rhetoric
  farmers and extension staff recognise their old
  system of selective response to demand and
  favouring of cooperatives

10
The Demand Side

• Tendency to pick winners in choice of which
  demand to respond to inevitable?
• Typical post-conflict conundrum how to shift out
  of rehabilitation modalities?
• Less of a problem in Serbia since less popular
  government (i.e., less donor funding) will
  Macedonia follow next week?

11
The Demand Side Public Interest

• Little environmental focus since forest and
  grazing land publicly owned
• Industrial pollution probably impacts on food
  safety, but no clear agenda yet

12
The Supply Side

• There are both public and private suppliers, but
  their limited capacities and geographic spread
  mean that farmers still have little choice
• Interest is growing in value-chain structures,
  but distrust and the collapse of former trading
  systems mean that progress is slow
• Supply of farm management and market oriented
  advice is still weak and relies heavily on donor
  finance (sustainability concerns)

13
The Supply Side

• Sida programming emphasises the search for a
  common vision, but much more time and effort are
  needed
• Capacity building for advisors is a priority if
  advice is to move beyond technology transfer
• Plans in Macedonia include pilot advisor
  certification, past assumptions that the market
  will ensure quality control are subject to debate
  and ridicule

14
Policy Framework

• National extension policy in Serbia has not yet
  been developed
• Macedonian extension policy is being reassessed
  after a period of operating under a donor imposed
  policy with little ownership
• Sida support emphasises creating broad platforms
  for debate nationally (Macedonia) and locally
  (Southern Serbia)

15
Policy Framework

• Definition of roles is not set, but is definately
  subject to polemic discussion
• Private supply and farmer organisations are
  ostensibly encouraged, but further regulatory
  reform is needed
• Political commitment to extension is mixed,
  creating uncertainty especially in Macedonia

16
Policy Framework

• Research extension linkages are encouraged, but
  this is not a major priority
• Production priorities include niche products,
  dairy and horticulture congruent with the
  priorities of market oriented farmers
• Farmer organisations in Macedonia are developing
  political clout, but may not actually represent
  their members (i.e., not automatically
  empowering)
• Respect for farmers as adults varies due to the
  contradictory mix of political objectives