State capacity and agricultural service provision: The case of rural Nepal

In Nepal, bureaucrats’ local knowledge and motivation make a difference in serving rural farmers. Danielle Resnick and Jordan Kyle share recent research findings on agricultural extension service provision from Nepal.

“What are the key elements to ensuring access to extension services? We found that the number of extension agents, staff professionalization and bureaucratic autonomy matter surprisingly little in shaping rural households’ access. Instead, the local knowledge and intrinsic motivation of individual agricultural bureaucrats play a far greater role.”

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