ORGANIZING EXTENSION SERVICES FOR INTEGRATED RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN WEST ADN EAST AFRICAN COUNTRIES – THE COMMODITY APPROACH.

In Sub-Saharan African countries extension services play a prominent role in the modernization process in rural areas; the diffusion of technological change and the improvement of agricultural job qualifications are largely brought about by a personal mediator: the extension agent. Extension agencies belong by their organizational size to the big employers in many African countries. In spite of their significance for development contributions the effectiveness and efficiency of many extension agencies appear to be dubiouse. For a closer inspection of effectiveness a distinction is made between a sectoral and a functional intervention model in agricultural extension. From the concept of INTEGRATED RURAL DEVELOPMENT (IRD) a number of norms are derived about how extension agencies should operate in order to achieve results among the farming population. Taking the cotton promoting agencies CIDT/Ivory Coast, CFDT/Madagascar and the rice promoting agency SODERJZ/Ivory Coast as empirical referents for the sectoral intervention model, the implications of this approach undergo scrutiny. As result it can be demonstrated that the sectoral intervention model functions relatively well since it allows for an application of rigid measures to increase organizational effectiveness. The impact of this organizational formula on rural development however appears to be precarious; a number of objectives of IRD are neglected by this organizational approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]