Contracting out agricultural public services: the NGO sector as an alternative delivery system

In many less developed countries (LDCs) that are undergoing economic adjustment the promotion of the agricultural sector is constrained by resource limitations that include finance, and human and institutional capacity. The inability of the state to provide essential agricultural services, for example, agricultural extension and research, leaves a void that could be filled by specialised organisations within the non-governmental sector (NGOs). NGOs as a whole need not fear the loss of other advantages but rather welcome the contracting out to specialist agencies of those activities that hitherto have been the domain of inefficient and ineffective government services.