Agricultural Extension Reforms in South Asia: Status, Challenges, and Policy Options

Agricultural Extension Reforms in South Asia: Status, Challenges, and Policy Options is based on agricultural extension reforms across five South Asian countries, reflecting past experiences, case studies and experiments. Beginning with an overview of historical trends and recent developments, the book then delves into country-wise reform trajectories and presents several cases testing the effectiveness of different types (public and private) and forms (nutrition extension, livestock extension) of extension systems. Further, the book provides a comprehensive overview of challenges and constraints faced in formulating and implementing reforms, tying the results into a concrete set of lessons and highlighting areas that require further research.

In addition, the book discusses how a major aspect of agricultural development is the productivity increase from the knowledge base of farmers, and how translating research results into a knowledge base for farmers requires designing and implementing well-functioning extension programs.

• Presents the current challenges and solutions by region, and provides insights for application in global settings
• Provides key foundational information for the effective and efficient design of future intervention programs
• Includes workshops and presentations based on real-world research of specific aspects of extension systems and provision of advisory and consultation services to various governments

• Language: English
• Publisher: Academic Press
• Release date: Jun 15, 2019
• ISBN: 9780128187531

Book preview

Agriculture.

Preface

Suresh Chandra Babu and Pramod K. Joshi

Over the last 20 years, reforms in agricultural extension systems have had varied levels of success in South Asia. Several experiments have been conducted to test the effectiveness of extension systems, but the challenge of applying the lessons learnt to policy-making still remains. IFPRI and its collaborators have done research related to agricultural extension reforms in South Asia for the past 5 years through various projects. The projects involve both research of specific aspects of extension systems and provision of advisory and consultation services to various governments through workshops and presentations.

Interest in research of extension systems gained momentum in 2010 when a major consultation was organized by National Academy of Agriculture Research Management and the IFPRI in Hyderabad, India. During the consultation, policy-makers called for further research on building better extension system reforms in India. Since then, several research papers have been produced, studying the sustainability of existing systems and pointing to lessons for the future. Other South Asian countries such as Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka have gone through similar challenges in this regard. IFPRI collaborated with several partners in producing research papers in these countries too. Several experiments have been conducted to test new approaches on topics such as the provision of extension services by the public, private, or NGO sectors; how to make extension services more responsive to farmer needs; and how to improve farmers’ access to information. This has led to the development of a body of knowledge that will be useful in the formulation of future policy reform.

IFPRI organized a workshop in May 2015 to bring together this knowledge base and engage with policymakers to understand the reasons behind what works and why in the agricultural extension systems in the South Asia region. This book attempts to provide policymakers guidance in furthering agricultural extension reforms in the South Asian region. Lessons from each country’s experiences will enable a deeper collective understanding and knowledge for policy-makers and aid them in changing the reform process to one that is more effective and efficient.

This book is based on the agricultural extension reforms across five South Asian countries reflecting on past experiences, case studies, and experiments. It starts with a comprehensive overview of historical trends and recent developments in the region. The book then delves into country-wise reform trajectories and presents several cases testing the effectiveness of different types (public and private) and forms (nutrition extension, livestock extension) of extension systems. Further, it also provides a comprehensive overview of the different challenges and constraints faced in formulating and implementing reforms, tying the results into a concrete set of lessons and highlighting the areas that require further research.

Part I

Introduction

Outline

Chapter 1 Extension reforms in South Asia – an overview

Chapter 1

Extension reforms in South Asia – an overview

Pramod K. Joshi¹ and Suresh Chandra Babu¹,²,    ¹International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, DC, United States,    ²Agricultural Economics, the University of Pretoria, South Africa

Abstract

Over the last 30 years, due funding constraints and poor organizational design and implementation, the quality of extension and rural services have declined in developing countries. As a result, public extension system has become ineffective in reaching the smallholder farmers who are crucial for the transformation of the agriculture sector. South Asia is no exception. Public extension system needs reformation to meet the changing needs of the farmers. Setting priorities in line with farmers’ problems and national policies and strategies are key for continuous innovation in the extension system. Agricultural transformation requires not just technological adoption of innovations. Behavioral change of the farmers through demonstration and through the right type of customized information is key for not just technology adoption but also for food system transformation. The extension messages must be simplified, and pluralistic extension needs coordination at the decentralized levels in terms of thematic areas, crops, livestock, fisheries, marketing prices, nutrition, and national resource management. Use of information, communication, and technology (ICT), internet of things (IoT), and drones are increasingly effective in generating and in sharing knowledge. Yet the role of quality information and the authenticity of information needs to be regulated. Social networks and farmers organizations could be effective in making information and agricultural services move easily accessible to the farmers. The monitoring, evaluation, and learning should go beyond the number of farmers reached and to become a system of learning, innovation, and capacity development. Information on innovations must be communicated through regular face-to-face interaction and through multiple channels of reinforcements with farm communities including on-site demonstration according to the context of the problem and capacity of the farming community to receive the information. Extension workers and the organizations involved in rural service delivery should be rewarded based on their performance and the feedback from the farming community. Extension workers need to be trained differently at various levels. There is a need to go beyond technology transfer skills to make them rural social entrepreneurs for providing a wide range of services depending on the needs of the farmers and the farming communities. Private sector approaches should be complemented by the public extension system. Public–private partnerships with private, NGOs, and farmer organizations are key for advancing agricultural transformation through extension and rural service provision.

Keywords

Agriculture; agriculture extension and advisory services; research and development; South Asia

Public extension and rural advisory services have, historically, played a significant role in accelerating agricultural productivity in many South Asian countries. However, reforms in agricultural extension systems have had varied levels of success. Several steps have been taken to increase the efficacy of the extension systems, but the challenge of applying the lessons learnt to policy-making and extension reforms still remains.

Due to the continued interest in research on extension systems and their reforms, several publications have focused on the challenges and constraints faced by the current extension systems from public and private sectors, their sustainability, and identifying lessons for the future. Research conducted so far in the South Asia region largely focuses on topics such as the provision of extension services by the public, private, or NGO sectors; how to make extension services more responsive to farmer needs; and how to improve farmers’ access to information. This has led to the development of a body of knowledge that will be useful in the formulation of future policy reform. However, several challenges remain for continued innovation and reform of the extension system in South Asia.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of agricultural extension reforms across four South Asian countries reflecting on past experiences, case studies, and experiments. The book then delves into country-wise reform trajectories and presents several cases testing the effectiveness of several types (public and private) and forms of extension systems. Further, it provides a comprehensive overview of the different challenges and constraints faced in formulating and implementing reforms, tying the results into a concrete set of lessons, and highlighting the areas that require further research.

The first set of chapters systematically compares the reforms in agriculture extension and advisory services in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. Rest of the chapters focus on examining the effectiveness of the reforms and programs implemented from several perspectives.

Despite consistent efforts to improve agriculture extension and advisory services, there is a decline in agricultural growth in all four countries and there is an urgent need to identify approaches for promoting innovations in the agriculture extension system. Since the current techniques implemented and technology used are outdated, South Asian countries as discussed in this book need to move away from traditional single crop production techniques and adoption of modern technology perceptive to the extension to increase productivity and efficiency of the agriculture sector and food system as a whole. Farmer-first approaches need to better understand the critical needs of farmers and identify appropriate solutions.

Since public extension system has limited outreach and is unable to provide extension services to all farmers, building and promoting private extension services to fill the gap left by public extension system becomes essential for the South Asian countries analyzed in this book. For example, in India, agriclinics are privately run service, which provides information on soil testing and inputs to farmers. These agriclinics are opened in areas where access to public extension services is low. Several developing countries, like the ones in South Asia, face both institutional and structural challenges in their current extension system. Other factors limiting efficiency and productivity of the agriculture sector in these countries include low literary of farmers, limited outreach of extension and advisory services, and limited access to technology. Access to reliable and timely information not just forms public extension, but a wide variety of information sources, both public and private, can help farmers to make appropriate decisions regarding their crop production.

Another common challenge observed in the country case studies was that extension services provided were largely supply-driven. In general, farmers’ demands are changing to a variety of technologies and services to remain competitive and profitable. They try to diversify production, produce for niche markets, and move to high-value products. To provide these farmers with the relevant information, the extension system needs to be transformed to provide a demand-driven extension.

In the chapters of this book, a wide range of issues and challenges and potential solutions are described and analyzed. These chapters look at existing a potential program that has opportunities for scaling up and provides opportunities for policy reforms in extension systems. Part II of the book contains chapters focusing on the innovations in public extension system. These four chapters provide examples of extension reforms in South Asia. Chapter 2, Reforms in Agricultural Extension Services System in Bangladesh, focuses on reforms in agriculture extension service system in Bangladesh. This chapter critically analyzes policy innovations in the market extension system in Bangladesh. It reviews major extension reforms occurred in Bangladesh, assesses the performance of the existing approach, and identifies the various actors and key players engaged in the extension policy process and program implemented along with their impact through conducting case studies with farmers, field-level grassroot extension workers, and senior officers.

Chapter 3, Agricultural Extension Reforms: Lessons from India, provides a critical overview of the current state of agriculture extension in India. Agriculture extension in India has undergone several changes since independence. However, public extension system is unable to reach a large number of smallholder farmers and other vulnerable groups. Several organizational performance issues such as inadequate staff numbers, low partnerships, and continued top-down linear focus to extension hinder the effectiveness and efficiency of public extension system. Based on the field case studies in four states (Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu), it identifies policy priorities and strategic solutions to further refine the ongoing reform process.

Chapter 4, Extension Policies and Reforms in Nepal: An Analysis of Challenges, Constraints, and Policy Options, provides an overview of agricultural extension system reforms and how demand-driven extension should be implemented in Nepal. Since farmers’ priorities are rapidly changing, extension services need to change as well. It became difficult to address diversified farmers’ needs by public extension services alone. This chapter explains the urgency of providing up-to-date and commodity-specific extension services to farmers. Further, it explores why it is important to carefully reshape location-specific and need-based extension methodologies.

Chapter 5, Extension Reforms in Sri Lanka: Lessons and Policy Options, examines the developments over the past two decades in the provision of agricultural extension services in Sri Lanka. Agricultural extension services worldwide have been under increasing pressure to become more effective and more responsive to clients, and less costly to the governments. Sri Lanka has been no exception as seen by the various past attempts to reform the extension system for effective dissemination of agricultural technology to farmers. In many ways, the process of agricultural extension reforms has remained one that is incomplete and uncertain about the path to follow. This chapter demonstrates that the agricultural extension system has moved increasingly toward defining a greater role for the private sector. It identifies the elements of an environment conducive for the participation of the private sector in agricultural extension system and delineates conditions under which the private sector could be a strong complement to the public sector in delivery of agricultural extension services in Sri Lanka.

Part III of this book focuses on public innovations in the extension system. Chapter 6, Information Needs of Farmers: A Systemic Study Based on Farmer Surveys, focuses on the information needs of the farmers. Using a case study of two districts in South India, authors examine farmers’ information needs and information search behavior, factors affecting their search behavior, and their willingness to pay for information. Using cluster analysis on access, frequency, and use of information sources, study identifies four farmer information search behaviors—high, medium, semimedium, and low based on factors such as education level, economic status, cultivated land area, agricultural income, and membership in a farmer-based organization and a primary agricultural cooperative bank. Reliability and timeliness were major constraints across all groups. The preferred medium for obtaining information was interpersonal contacts, which followed mobile phones (helpline, voice message, and SMS). High and medium searchers used a greater number of sources, which also included print media and television.

Chapter 7, Can Institutional Convergence Force Agricultural Development in Pluralistic Extension Systems: A Case of Krishi Vigyan Kendra (The Farm Science Center) in India, provides empirical evidence toward institutional convergence for agricultural development within a pluralistic extension system. Specifically, the study is about the attempts taken by a public extension service provider Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), the farm science center in Eastern India working with restricted funding and manpower to accelerate agricultural extension with partners working with almost parallel mandates at the district level. Largely, experiences of convergence in partnership envisaged have been narrated by the authors who were solely responsible to implement this approach. Results indicate that convergence helps to the foremost shift in agricultural extension of KVK through partnerships that are in terms of increased technology assessed, increased role as a knowledge broker, and improved research-extension linkage, high visibility, larger outreach, and quantitative jump in targets, devising and implementing alternative extension approaches and expanding expertise.

Chapter 8, Helping Farmers to Use Optimal Inputs: Lessons From Soil Health Cards in Bhoochetana Experiment, draws lessons from soil health cards in India. Poor understanding of soil quality and distortionary subsidies for urea are two big reasons for imbalanced use of chemical fertilizers in India. In 2009, Government of Karnataka launched a program, called Bhoochetana, to address both these problems. This chapter analyzes data from crop-cutting samples collected from a random sample of more than 3600 farmers and uses regress difference in yield against crop dummies and year dummies. The results of this chapter show that the application of micronutrients led to a 35%–40% increase in crop yields.

Chapter 9, Bihar Governments’ Efforts on Agricultural Extension Adopting Agricultural Technology Management (ATMA) Approach, evaluates efforts of Indian government on agriculture extension system in Bihar. The agricultural extension system is largely responsible for dissemination of technological knowledge to farmers in India. It is being operated by the Department of Agriculture, Government of India (GoI), through state-, district-, and block-level machinery. The research institutes and agricultural universities in the country also play a limited role in delivery of extension services. The extension system being an increasingly important engine for transfer of knowledge, innovations, and developments in agriculture needs reforms over time (Rivera and Sulaiman 2009). During mid-1990s, the GoI and the World Bank explored a new approach to address the prevalent problems and constraints of the agricultural extension system. The new decentralized extension approach, Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA), emphasized more on agricultural diversification, and increasing farm income and rural employment came into existence. As a follow-up action, the GoI, on the success of ATMA model, initiated a new scheme on Support to State Extension Programs for extension reforms and provided funds for setting up of ATMA in all the 588 rural districts of the country. The ATMA model envisages a paradigm shift from top-down to bottom-up planning and in implementation of agricultural development programs. However, to make future program more effective, scientific study of the technology transfer system is essential.

Part IV of the book contains chapters that discuss innovations in private extension services. Chapter 10, Extension Through Rural Business Hubs: Lessons From Case Studies in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh, uses stochastic frontier analysis to cross-section data from three large states of India (Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh) and assesses the actual use of extension services from institutional sources (private or public), and soil testing makes paddy farmers more efficient. Controlling for farmer characteristics like age, education, religion, social category, and total landownership and village fixed effects, results show that farmers who had received extension inputs from a formal source at least once in 12 months before our survey are more efficient growers of paddy in all three states. Similarly, farmers who had their soil tested were also more efficient in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Results on soil testing and use of extension, though plausible and encouraging, should be treated with caution as they are based on cross-section data. The positive correlation between provision of extension and soil testing and farmers’ efficiency suggests the need for further research to explore the causal connection between extension and efficiency.

Chapter 11, Extension Through Entrepreneurial Approach: Evaluating the Agriclinics Program, evaluates the effectiveness the Indian national program of agriclinics and agribusiness centers, started in 2002. Agriclinics aim provide farmers with a reliable alternative to the private input dealer by subsidizing technically trained agricultural graduates to establish their own agricultural input shops and agriclinic laboratories. Agriclinics fill the gap left by public extension system by providing agricultural inputs and are becoming a key information source for farmers as well. However, farmers’ awareness of and demand for the soil-testing service is low. Given that the agriclinic program is a private form of advisory service, its success depends, among other things, on farmers’ willingness to pay for soil-testing services. This chapter explores the extent to which certain extension services can or should be privatized in India.

Chapter 12, Why Private Rural Extension Fails? Lessons From Hariyali Experiment, examines why private rural extension fails. A rural business hub (RBH) is an one-stop shop that offers various agricultural services like input retail, crop procurement, financial services, and extension (including weather information, crop management advice, etc.) to farmers under one roof. The RBH model tries to create multiple revenue streams by taking part in both input and output value chains to increase its turnover, to cover its fixed costs, and to add more value to farmers’ agricultural enterprise. We analyze the organization, reach, and effectiveness of the agricultural extension system evolved by India’s largest RBH called Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar in this chapter. Results show that most farmers had very few interactions with the Hariyali network and spent very little money in hariyali kisan centers (HKCs). We find that farmers who received extension inputs from Hariyali staff on average spent 50% more money on buying goods from HKCs. This suggests that wide-reaching extension service could contribute to increasing turnover of RBHs.

Part V of the book contains Chapters 13 and 14, which focuses on ICT (information, communication, and technology) and education in extension system. Chapter 13, ICTs for Strengthening Extension Services to Reach the Last Mile in India, focuses on how ICT can strengthen extension to reach out to more farmers in India. This chapter explores design and implementation of ICT initiatives to ensure that they meet farmers’ expectations and needs so that they can manage risk better. Further, it points out how ICT can be linked with the existing extension services to strengthen the overall institution of extension. It highlights the existing ICT models in India and presents a case study of Indian farmers fertiliser cooperative - kisan sanchar limited (IFFCO-IKSL) model and how it was integrated with international maize and wheat improvement center (CIMMYT) model.

Chapter 14, Open and Distance Learning for Capacity Development of Extension Professionals, explores how technology can improve information delivery to sustainable increase returns from agriculture in India. This chapter uses data collected during randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the impact of providing agricultural information to farmers on farm productivity. RCT was utilized because it is most efficient for investigating causality and for avoiding selection bias issue. The data analyzes how yields, costs, and returns have changed for the cotton crop for farmers due to the treatment provided using the difference-in-difference technique.

Part VI of the book contains chapters, which provide examples of specialized extension programs.

Chapter 15, Agricultural Extension Reforms and Institutional Innovations for Inclusive Outreach in India, identifies agricultural extension reforms and institutional innovations for inclusive outreach in India. India has made great strides in increasing food-grain production since the launch of Green Revolution in the mid-1960s. During the last decade, production of maize and cotton has doubled. In the recent past, the growth rates in horticulture, livestock, and fishery sectors have been impressive and these sectors have significantly contributed toward agricultural gross domestic product. However, the average growth in agricultural sector over the previous plan period (2007–12) has remained at 4%. The declining total factor productivity, diminishing and degrading natural resources, and stagnating farm incomes have become the major concerns. This chapter addresses key challenges such as why the input delivery and local agri-governance systems are weakening, what are the increasing risks in agriculture due to weather, prices, and trade policies, including the impact of globalization, and identifies growing marketing inefficiencies and increasing agri-waste and limited employment opportunities in the nonfarm sector. These challenges can have serious implications on farm income and the future of Indian agriculture. It appears that the Indian agriculture is currently facing both unprecedented challenges and unparalleled opportunities.

Chapter 16, Agricultural Extension Policies for Livestock Development—Lessons From the Poultry Industry in India, draws some lessons from the poultry industry in shaping extension policies for livestock development in India. Chapter 17, Why Convergence of Fisheries Comanagement With Agricultural Technology Management Agency Is Significant, explains why convergence of fisheries comanagement with ATMA is significant. Life below water is under threat from overexploitation, pollution, and change in the climate, whereas many water bodies are underutilized, and in some places, there is a competition for using the resource for fisheries and aquaculture with other farmers. The rising demand of fish has intensified capture fisheries and motivating the fish farming. The sustainable fisheries and aquaculture is addressed through fisheries comanagement by few experts in pockets. Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India has launched ATMA to address the techno-organizational-transformation framework for sustainability issues related to agriculture and allied subjects. Though fishery is component in ATMA, it is not incorporated properly to create sufficient impact. This chapter addresses the importance of converging fisheries comanagement with ATMA to address such issues in a larger scale.

Chapter 18, Evaluation of Agricultural Technology Management Agency for Dairy Development, focuses on dairy extension system in the context of ATMA in India. It attempts to identify ATMA as a common platform for convergence and coordination amongst different agencies/organizations working for dairy development. It looks into the achievements so far and the way forward for further prepositioning its objectives toward allied sectors as a whole and dairy extension in particular. After introduction about agricultural extension reforms, the chapter provides a brief history of ATMA and deals with ATMA in the context of dairy development.

Part VII of the book contains the concluding chapter (Chapter 19: Extension Reforms in South Asia: Synthesis of Conclusions, Lessons Learnt, and the Way Forward), which provides major results these case studies presented in the above chapters. It looks at trends, commonalities, and differences among various extension approaches. By drawling examples from the above case studies, it provides lessons for success and failure and identifies opportunities, which can be applied to other developing countries.

References

1. Rivera WM, Sulaiman VR. Extension: object of reform, engine for innovation. Outlook agr. 2009;38(3):267–273.

Part II

Extension Reforms in South Asia

Outline

Chapter 2 Reforms in agricultural extension service system in Bangladesh

Chapter 3 Agricultural extension reforms: lessons from India*

Chapter 4 Extension policies and reforms in Nepal: an analysis of challenges, constraints, and policy options

Chapter 5 Extension reforms in Sri Lanka: lessons and policy options

Chapter 2

Reforms in agricultural extension service system in Bangladesh

Safiul Islam Afrad Md.¹, Fatema Wadud² and Suresh Chandra Babu³,⁴,    ¹Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University, Gazipur, Bangladesh,    ²Department of Agricultural Marketing, Bangladesh,    ³Capacity Strengthening Program, International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, DC, United States,    ⁴Agricultural Economics, The University of Pretoria, South Africa

Abstract

Agricultural extension and advisory services in Bangladesh have followed an evolutionary process of experimentation with the components of several recognized extension approaches. However, the effectiveness and efficiency of the national agricultural extension system have remained low and empirical evidence on the possibilities for reforms remains limited. This chapter describes the recent strategies and agricultural extension service reforms in Bangladesh; identifies the actors and players engaged in the agricultural extension policy process and program implementation; reviews the impact of innovation on agricultural extension approaches of the public, private, and NGO sectors; and offers suggestions for formulating the relevant cost-effective and sustainable agricultural extension systems in Bangladesh. These were done by reviewing some journals, reports, and information available on internet during July 2014–January 2015. At the same time the authors also conducted some group discussions, personal interviews, and case studies with farmers, field-level/grassroots extension workers, and some senior officers for obtaining primary data. For these, 10 upazilas of Bangladesh, namely Kaliakoir, Kaligonj, South Surma, Barura, Rajoir, Chunarughat, Chagolnaiya, Durgapur, Nachole, Monirampur, and Kalia, were randomly selected. Generally, training and visit system was found ineffective, except in the formation of DAE; Agricultural Support Service Project has introduced bottom-up extension approach; New Agricultural Extension Policy is focused on landless, marginal, and women farmers, and coordinates and integrates extension service approach with special emphasis on environment; and National Agricultural Technology Program introduced Common Interest Groups and Producers' Organizations and established Farmers' Information and Advice Centers on pilot basis. But, it was observed that theoretical and dysfunctional public-private-NGO partnerships exist, and farmers fail to harvest the benefits from extension services due to their illiteracy, reluctance, and low technological competency of extension service people. In addition, there was lack of cooperative societies at the farmers' level and inefficient bottom-up shift of participatory extension approach in Bangladesh. Considering all the strengths and loopholes witnessed, further reforms are needed involving active participation of all potential stakeholders to ensure sustainable extension service system in Bangladesh that could stand the test of time.

Keywords

Agriculture extension; Bangladesh; DAE; public; private; NGO; reform

Introduction

The well-being of the rural population worldwide is invariably linked to the performance of agricultural sector as well as the sector’s strength to cope with the challenges that emanate from rising population pressures, growing and changing demand for food and agricultural products, increasing resource scarcity, intensifying climate change, and rising production uncertainties. With rapidly changing national, regional, and global economic scenario, Bangladesh agriculture is facing the challenges of reinventing itself to withstand competition and at the same time continue providing food and employment opportunities to the majority of country’s population. To this end, the Government of Bangladesh is in the process of articulating a new vision for the agricultural sector, realizing that the past and current visions, with relatively heavy emphasis on production of food, are no longer adequate. In this process, the government is seeking ways and means to make agriculture more competitive through formulating incentive-compatible policies and measures with a view to transforming the sector for sustainable agricultural development, food security, and poverty alleviation within the overall framework of the country’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (MoA, 2006). In addition to constraining the growth of agricultural sector and thus rural development, a weak and ineffective extension and advisory service system has increased the exposure of this sector to the effects of high population growth, shifts in product demand, natural resource constraints, climate change, and HIV/AIDS, among others (Birner et al., 2006; Anderson, 2007; World Bank,