Views of Extension Advisors in Privatization of Limpopo Extension System

The present study provides a very partial picture with regard to the issue of privatization and outsourcing in the Limpopo province of South Africa. The author has taken only the viewpoints of the public extension personnel, and not of the other stakeholders like farmers’ organizations, research institutions, agricultural scientists, and representatives from tertiary education institutions. There is no one set of challenges that justifies the privatization of extension and advisory services both in developed and developing areas. It is argued that factors that can influence privatization include; limited budget provisions and ineffectiveness of extension and advisory services. According to studies commissioned by the World Bank, there are many lessons to be learned from the literature about the successes and failures of privatization in organizations throughout rich and developing nations. Regrettably, South Africa was left out of these studies. This is the reason this study was carried out in South Africa's Limpopo Province to determine whether privatization and outsourcing are acceptable or not.

This chapter explores options for privatization in South Africa with a focus on Limpopo Province. A sample of 324 extension officers out of 700 extension officers from the province was taken from the five districts of Limpopo constituting a sample of 46%, and their opinions were gathered through quantitative design. The results show that extension efficiency was falling below the international standards when measured through the input/output ratio of 100/130. The majority of extension advisors (70%) showed resistance to privatization, and the mean scale of the benefits of privatization was rated 6.7 as the highest in 7 categories. The extension advisors did not perceive any benefits for privatization and hence rated 38% from all the districts. The varying choices could therefore be attributed to different judgements of competence of the alternative community structures. The respondents did not support a situation where officials from Local Government would take over the responsibility of extension services. The chapter concludes with recommendations that warn that privatization ought to be taken with great care because the marginalized and small-scale farmers cannot afford to pay for extension services.