ORGANIZATION OF EXTENSION SERVICES IN THE HUNGARIAN SHEEP AND GOAT INDUSTRY

Kukovics, Sándor Székelyhidi, Tamás
Molnár, András Agricultural Cooperative
Research Institute for Animal Development International /
Breeding and Nutrition Volunteers in Overseas
Herceghalom, Hungary Cooperative Assistance

Budapest, Hungary

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ABSTRACT

During the years of the political and economic transition, consultant firms working for sheep state farms and cooperatives closed down. On top of constancy these firms were involved in servicing and trading activities. They had an indirect effect on small farms too, via their work for bigger cooperatives. In the last couple of years a new extension service system was developed with state subsidy, and this is not dealing with trade any more. There is also an outside organization (ACDI/VOCA) involved in the extension service that - in cooperation with the local system - is assisting in the establishment of the new type of integration. The operation of different extension services is summarized in this work.

Key words: sheep, goat, extension service system, TQM, integration
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INTRODUCTION

There is not a single sector in the Hungarian economy that has not been influenced by the changes and reorganizations of the political system. It is not only the ownership structure in the goat and sheep sector that changed dramatically, but also the size of sheep and goat populations in the country. The 1982 number of sheep (3 180 000) decreased to 31 percent, and the number of ewes (1 972 000) to 34 percent by 1996; (Kukovics et al, 1997 a,b) while the goat population gradually increased in the last 5-6 years, reaching an estimated 65-70 000 heads by 1997. The changes in the population coincided with the breaking up of big farms into smaller units. Most of these newly formed small units hold less then 100 sheep. Seventy-five percent of all `sheep farms' fall into this category. In the case of goats there are usually 5-20 animals on a farm (although the range varies 5-100 animals) (Kukovics - Jávor, 1997).
The changes which were described above influenced the status of extension services profoundly. These effects are summarized in this work.
CONSULTANCY OR SERVICING

In the period before 1990 large-scale farming was dominant in the small ruminant sector of agriculture. There were even several large-scale goat farms (state farms and cooperatives), which were swept by the wind of change.
Besides these big farms goats and sheep were kept in households for supplementary income; this was not so much the case on independent private farms. Trade was carried out by a handful of companies, the number of which started to increase only after 1989. There was a multilevel extension system operating in the country in this period (Figure1).

Figure 1. `The operation of the agricultural extension services before 1989'

These small household farmsteads (0.5-1 ha crop land or a couple of animals in the yard) were operated by members of agricultural cooperatives or state farm workers in addition to their regular work. These small houshold farms operated under the aegis of the large-scale farm and were supported by special services. The large scale farms employed professionals to arrange the support of the work of smallholders from cultivation up to product sale. In the case of crop production this included the seed supply, soil cultivation, plant protection, harvesting and the sale of crops together with the large scale unit. In the case of animal husbandry this meant supply of breeding stock, fodder, advisory service and in most cases sale together with the big farm's animals. Naturally, these household farms operated by the large scale farm's system regarding variety, fodder, keeping and breeding technology and used the favourably priced services of the big farm, too. This system was very advantageous for the small units, because for no additional cost they could apply the newest results of research and development applied by big farms. Besides they also received premium prices for their products. This possibility was not available for the small number of private farms (working on their own).
The main targets of both research and development and extension services were large scale farms. Results of development and research could be tested well under these circumstances, and results could be sold and applied throughout the extension services.
Before the political changes there were 1 300 agricultural cooperatives and 126 state farms in Hungary, out which 650 and 95 bred small ruminants, respectively. These farms used the advisory and other services of several companies. The applied services included investment operations, planning and construction work, transportation of technological equipment and veterinary services and fertility services as well. The servicing companies obtained the latest results of research for free or for a very low fee from research institutes and universities, and passed these on as servicing companies. These servicing companies, together with their partners, were usually called `production systems'.
Trading companies (wool, lamb and milk purchasers) supplied special consultancy and servicing to influence the quality and quantity of the end product they tackled. With the increase in the number of these types of companies the concept of combination sale was introduced, where a certain service was only available for those who sold the end product to the same company.
Universities and research institutes helped production companies both indirectly through these servicing companies and directly through their extension service. The significance of this latter activity showed remarkable increase in the 1980s.

`PURE' EXTENSION SERVICES

The system of extension services has changed profoundly in the last couple of years. The formerly operating servicing companies closed down because, in the years of political transition, there was not enough money available to sustain them. In the initial happiness of owning their lands, the new owners missed the opportunity to make use of these servicing companies. In order to alleviate the problems rooted in the lack of information, financial and professional resources, the government founded the so-called Master farmers' (they were organized by the Agricultural Chamber) offices and employed professional agronomists to help farmers' work. In addition to this, new organizations were brought about. Companies or individuals wishing to start agricultural consultancy businesses had to obtain permission from the Ministry of Agriculture. One condition was the support of the region's Agricultural Chamber and the Products Council. These companies are not allowed to engage in trading activities - only consulting, planning, and organizing.

	Ministry of Agriculture Permission, Supervision, Education
Elite farmers				Agricultural Chamber Classification, Education		Research Institutes, Universities Research, Continuous education
Trading companies			Consulting companies						Wholesaler of equipments
Producing companies

Figure 2. System of Present Extension Services

For those involved in providing extension services there is continuous education organized by the Ministry of Agriculture (regarding legal, regime, state subsidy and registry issues) and by regional agricultural chambers, research institutes and universities (research results: breeding, fertility, feeding, processing and trading matters). Most training is organized with state subsidy received though grants.
The whole system is going through a learning process. There are many consultant firms existing only on paper, and only few of them are actually used by producers. One reason behind this is that the present day smallholders cannot afford these services and even large scale farms can hardly find money for this. In this - hopefully transitional - period, the government supports farms making use of extension services by refunding 50 percent of the cost through grants.

INTERNATIONAL INVOLVEMENT IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE EXTENSION SERVICES

ACDI/VOCA, (founded by USAID) based on the resources of the organization, supports SME (Small and medium enterprises) and extension services with the development of a TQM system and with a decision-supporting manager information system (MIS). It applies these systems into practice in small enterprises, franchise systems and regional integrations. ACDI/VOCA also prepares the necessary technological plans and feasibility studies for its partners.
ACDI/VOCA's program in the sheep sector resulted in a regional integration based on sheep milk production, and an organic lamb and sheep meat producing integration. In the goat sector two cooperatives and a franchise were established based on goat milk and cheese production. There are over two hundred small and medium sized enterprises involved in this sheep and goat programme. The philosophy of ACDI/VOCA is always to build up an integration into a marketable end product and to adapt the TQM model to this production (Figure 3.).

Figure 3. TQM model in milking ewe and goat farm integration

Based on studies analysing several enterprises, ACDI/VOCA prepared decision supporting systems ( MIS) for the goat and sheep sectors that are built up by the following modules:

The registration and planning module includes:

· individual and age group registration of the sheep/goat population, their needs and production and the planning of these;
· evaluation of the feed crop fields and storage management in monthly and 10 day periods;
· forecast of expenses and income;
· turnover and liquidity in monthly and 10 day periods;
· summarizing charts.

Evaluation module:
· tool for preparation of business plan.

Farm management module:
· the classic accounting and book keeping module sufficient to tackle the data of the whole enterprise.

Background charts and network connections modules:

· background charts include data for breeding or processing enterprises regarding technology, feeding, market situation;
· financial indicators for cooperation and integration.

The ACDI/VOCA with the TQM and with the MIS opened a new type of communication channel for extension work.
During the development of the system ACDI/VOCA established close cooperation with the Research Institute for Animal Husbandry and Nutrition Herceghalom (ÁTK) and with the University of Agricultural Sciences Gödöll (GATE). These institutions are going to use the developed systems in the education of consultants and in direct extension services as well.
The operation of the system is drafted on Figure 4, showing the integration of goat farms. With the help of the two institutions mentioned above ACDI/VOCA assists small farmers to cooperate for joint processing and marketing.

Figure 4. Model of the goat farmers' organization

CONCLUSION

The extension services were also effected by the reorganization of the Hungarian economy. These changes could be concluded as follows:

· The extension services were utilized by big (co-operative and state) farms before 1990 and the household farms could be operated as a part of the big ones - from this point of view. Several extensionists (consulting and servicing companies) helped their work.
· After 1990 the firms in extension services were replaced by new and different companies, many of them were only small ones. The new farms did not have enough income to utilize their services, so many of them were functioning only on paper. The system could not really work.
· In the fields of sheep and goat farming, an outside help could modify the extension service situation by introducing the American system mainly to the goat farms. The Total Quality Management (TQM) model could offer profitable development of the farms. Using this model, several systems could operate on these farms with success.

REFERENCES

Kukovics, S. - Jávor, A. & Székelyhidi, T. 1997. A juhágazat fejlesztési programja. [Development programme for sheep industry], Magyar Juhászat [Hungarian Sheep Breeding], Vol. 3: 2-7.
Kukovics, S. & Jávor, A. 1997. "Sheep and goat production systems in Hungary " In "Book of papers" of the "Systems of sheep and goat production", International Symposium, Bella, Italy, 25-27 October 1997, 167-175 pp.
Kukovics, S. - Jávor, A. - Molnár Gy. - Ábrahám, M. & Molnár A. 1997. A juhtenyésztés minségének fejlesztése [The development of quality in sheep breeding], In "Agro-21" Füzetek, Az agrárgazdaság jövképe ["AGRO-21" Brochures, Future view of the agriculture],17: 76-100.