advantages of centralized administration with those of local control

is needed.1

 From the point of the rural poor, the critical question is at

what administrative level--the central political system or the local

social system--do they have greater representation and power. It is

at that level that power over an extension system should be stressed,

if it is to best serve the poor.

1. Centralized Management

 Some writers on extension in develooina nations emphasize

the potential benefits which can be achieved for more rigorous,

centralized management in which extension agents are given narrow

specific tasks and rewarded accordingly. They argue that central

control can compel extension agents to act in a desired manner.

 The first step in this requires limiting the tasks that are

given to the extension agent. Because he is often a government's

primary contact with farmers, the extension agent has multiple tasks. He is

saddled with responsibilities for policing, debt collecting,

data collection, general reporting, and input supply and ration-

ing, in addition to giving technical advice. In time of national

disaster, the extension service may be given the task of distribu-

ting food or other types of relief and emergency equipment. Each


 The importance of rural local organizations is highlighted
by Norman Uphoff and Milton Esman, Local Organization for Rural
Development in Asia (Ithaca: Cornell Rural Development Committee,
1974).