Maintaining the momentum in post-green revolution agriculture : a micro-level perspective from Asia

The complexity of crop management has increased dramatically, making it absolutely necessary that farmers have access to up-to-date technical information and skills. This paper argues that the image of the "poor, but efficient" farmer is no longer applicable in a post Green Revolution world and that too little attention has been given to the adaptive research, extension services, and rural education needed to ensure farmers" greater technical and managerial efficiency. Although recent changes in adaptive research (i.e., the farming systems approach) and in extension (the training and visit system) have brought improvements, there is still too much emphasis on prescribing solutions to farmers, and too little on increasing farmers" overall understanding of new technology. The paper examines critical issues for investment allocation among adaptive research, extension, and rural schooling, concluding that all three are essential complementary inputs. It is further concluded that the private sector can play a greater role in adaptive research and information dissemination (especially for chemical inputs), but that the public sector must provide leadership for the foreseeable future.