Human resource development in agriculture

There is increasing evidence and recognition that what matters for development, more than natural resources and man-made physical capital, is the capability of people to be effective and productive economic agents, in short, human capital. In the particular case of agriculture, most studies on the subject establish that the education and skills of agricultural people are significant factors in explaining the inter-farm and inter-country differences in agricultural performance, along with the more conventional factors such as availabilities of land and water resources, inputs, credit, etc.
With the shrinking of per capita agricultural resources following demographic growth, with the agricultural labour force in the developing countries projected to continue at positive (though declining) growth rates and with the share of young people in the total also continuing to grow, the task of upgrading the literacy, the skills and other capabilities of the agricultural people is enormous. Moreover, the increasingly binding character of natural resource scarcities imposes severe limits on the extent to which production increases can be had through expansion of extensive agriculture. The generation and diffusion of technology and management capabilities for more intensive and modernised agriculture and supporting services become imperative. This can only be achieved through the upgrading of the quality of human resources employed in agriculture.
The history of human resources development (HRD) in developing countries is rooted in the past educational system. The main purpose of the past educational system in most developing countries, especially in Asia and Africa, was to develop a high degree of literacy within the local community. The need for people who could read and possibly write was necessary for the administrative purpose in respect of transmitting messages, keeping accounts and being able to serve as servants. Thus, there was a high turnout of clerks, foremen in labour camps and, as the years went by, civil administrators, lawyers and educators.
The education system, geared to the purpose mentioned above, did not pay any particular attention to the development of creative skills and talent in the local community. The educational system therefore did not emphasise science and technology education or those programmes that could lead to the development of inventive skills in talented individuals. It was therefore difficult to generate the technical skills required for development, especially those related to science and technology and engineering.
Moreover, poverty remains a great concern for the whole world at this advanced stage of civilisation. The advancement of science and technology is offering so many gifts to modern life but the contributions of modern science and technology are not touching every door of mankind. A limited part of world community is enjoying the advantages of modern civic facilities. A large part of world's population can not meet up basic needs; can not enjoy secured and dignified life. Though the planet is rich in resources but due to uneven possession and distribution of resources a large number of world's inhabitants are identified as poor and illiterate.
Poverty has created a big underclass in the world. Among world's population, 1.4 billion people continue to live in extreme poverty, struggling to survive on less than US$1.25 a day. More than two-thirds of them reside in rural areas where agriculture is the prime occupation in developing countries. Of the 1.4 billion people living in extreme poverty (defined as those living on less than US$1.25 a day) in 2005, approximately 1.0 billion - around 70 per cent - lived in rural areas. So poverty conditions in rural areas have become a great concern for all developing nations of the world. The poverty conditions in South Asia is very much dismal, particularly the condition of rural poverty is alarming with substandard living condition in almost all parts of this subcontinent.
 Rural poverty has been declining slowly in South Asia, where the incidence is still more than 45 per cent for extreme poverty and over 80 per cent for US $2/day poverty. In South Asia, Bangladesh as a developing country is beset with acute problem of poverty. Despite government's initiative and endeavour, progress in poverty reduction is not satisfactory. In Bangladesh, 31.5 per cent people live under poverty line and in rural areas this rate is 35.2 per cent. Therefore, rural poverty must be given priority.
A critical problem in HRD in agriculture is the gender issue. In developing countries, an important proportion of farm work continues to be done by women but only 17 per cent of agricultural extension workers are women. But by giving stronger recognition to the role of women in agriculture, increasing the number of female students in agricultural schools and colleges and increasing resource allocation for extension services directed to women farmers, it may be possible to raise the proportion of women extension workers to 20 per cent of the total in the developing countries.
The low level of training of a large proportion of extension workers is another issue for developing countries that must be addressed in the future. Given the increasing number of middle-level and college agriculture graduates in many developing countries, it is probable that the older high-school trained extension workers would be replaced gradually by persons with higher educational qualifications. This is already happening in many countries of Asia, Latin America and the Near East.
The amount and quality of trained technical and professional manpower in agriculture are critical factors. This "human capital" is relatively scarce because training takes years and is costly. However, investing in technical and professional education has a high multiplier effect when trained personnel are properly employed as extension agents, trainers, researchers, programme managers, policy makers and in the private sector.
Although many developing countries still have serious shortages of trained manpower in fields related to agriculture, considerable progress has been made during the last three decades. Worldwide, increases in institutional capacity for training are reflected in the increased number of extension personnel, as well as of agricultural research personnel. International Service for National Agricultural Research (ISNAR) reports that agricultural research personnel in developing countries increased at the rate of 7.1 per cent annually.
The major problems of developing countries in the area of agricultural education and training include inadequate institutional capacity, relatively low level of public and private support to agricultural education, and limited resources and experience to cope with new areas of training in agriculture, i.e. environment and natural resource management, biotechnology, farming systems management and agribusiness.
The writer is a retired Professor
of Economics, BCS General
Education Cadre.
[email protected]