Situation And Reform Of Guangxi Township Agricultural Technology Promotion Agencies To Develop Countermeasures

Before the re-structuring, the management of the agricultural extensionsystems at grassroots level level in Guangxi Autonomous Region followed thepattern combining vertical and horizontal administration, having the verticalone as the major. It means that the extension agencies at township level werethe branch of the county agricultural institute that was responsible for thepersonnel, financial and physical management over the agencies. There-structuring of government in the early 2002 united the various agenciessuch as agriculture, machinery, forestry, economic management, animalhusbandry and fishery, water and soil conservation, etc. at the township levelinto the integrated agricultural service center that became an institute with fullbudget allocated from the govemment above level and administrated by thetownship government in the aspects of personnel, funds and physicalmaterials.The thesis took the agricultural service centers at the township level inLiujiang County as the cases for study, and adopted RRA (Rapid RuralAppraisal) and PRA (Participatory Rural Appraisal) as the main methodologyof research. The operational situations of the centers and the constraints totheir operation were systematically researched with case studies,Semi-Structured Interview, individual interview, group discussion,questionnaire survey and review of secondary information. Accordingly, therecommendations for the improvement and reform of the extension systemswere proposed.The main findings and conclusions of the research include: Since there-structuring, the personnel quota of the township centers had been reducedsignificantly, the integration and synergy increased; the average age of thestaff become younger, and the efficiency and accountability increased; morecontribution made to the increase of crop and animal production and farmer'sincome and the development of rural areas, which got praised by thestakeholders. However, there are still quite a lot of constraints under currentinstitutions to the sound operation of the extension centers, including shortageof extensionists, reduced times of training, too low of payment, unsuitability of their knowledge and skills to the new requirement of agriculturaldevelopment, vaguer in the responsibilities and duties, lack of operationalfund, lack of coordination among staff, poor management of the assets andphysical materials, backward in the concepts and ideas about extension, weakin administration, etc. These factors restricted the full play of the roles andfunctions of the centers, and the dissemination and adoption of the newagricultural technologies, varieties and products.Oriented to those constraints and current situations of the extensionsystems at grassroots level level, the following recommendations wereproposed such as re-examining the personnel quota, clarifying theadministration mechanism and functions, renewing the ideas about extension,increasing fund and improving the working conditions, strengthening trainingand learning, implementing the objectives-based management, trying theestablishment of district extension stations, and protecting the assets of theextension agencies during the restructuring.