THE EVALUATION OF HORTICULTURAL EXTENSION IN ...

The Evaluation of Horticultural Extension in Hanover Region of GermanyIt is well known that intensiveproduction such as horticulture requiresmuch more technical knowledge comparedto other agricultural crops. For this reason,extension activities for the horticultural plantproduction requires relatively different (i.e.more information support) approach tofarming comparing to the other agriculturalcrops. Furthermore, there is a very closerelationship between net income andagricultural support policy. In the line ofagricultural policy, the Federal governmentrelatively allocates more supports tohorticultural growers. Government supportper hectare is equal to half of the value ofagricultural crops. It is therefore the net farmincome per hectare is the sum of the totalcrop value and government support on thebasis area.2. Horticultural Extension in the RegionAll over the world, one of the mainpurposes of extension is to increase the levelof living standards of the rural peoplethrough informal education (Ozcatalbas andGurgen, 1998).Extension has helped farmers’ needson agricultural information and responded tonew market opportunities (Snapp, 2004). InGermany, agricultural extension services areprovided by the Ministry of Agriculture, andChamber of Agriculture and several privateextension institutions. The private extensionsystem (or services) is developing rapidly,but it is not alternative to the currentextension system in the country.Extension activities for horticulturecover vegetables, fruits and ornamentalplants. Horticulture is one of the majoragricultural activities in Hanover region.Generally rural and agricultural extensionand also horticultural extension services areunder the responsibility of the Chamber ofAgriculture in Hanover and Lower Saxony.Extension system, implemented by the stateis accepted as one of the best in Germany(Bruns, 1999).Extension service for horticulturesector is mainly carried out by the Chamberof Agriculture of Hanover. It can be named“farmer-union based extension system” andapplied in both Hanover Region and LowerSaxony state. The Chamber of Agricultureof Hanover (LandWirtschaftsKammerHannover-LWK), located in Hanoverprovince is responsible for extensionactivities in three provinces. The Chamberis the biggest European chamber with 1350employees, around 400 staff work in theMain Office (Centrum) of the Chamber inHanover (Rhein, 2000). The majority ofstaff work in the agencies of county, districtagencies and forestry agencies and researchinstitutes, education and fieldexperimentation (Rhein, 2000; Märkisch,1999).The Chamber has 6,307 members andabout 47,8 percent of the member producevegetables. The shares of growers producingfruit, ornamental plants, nursery andseedling are 27.1, 17.5, 7.1, and 0.5 %,respectively. The Chamber has 3 institutes, 5district offices, 26 county offices and 12forestry offices. These institutions play animportant role in terms of implementationof extension activities.The Chamber aims to improve "theagriculture and living standards of farmersaccording to the interests of society".Education and advanced training coursescalled "green professions" as well as variousadvisory services are the most importantduties of the Chamber. The most importanttasks and functions of the Chamber, can bebriefly stated as (Rhein, 2000; Ozcatalbas,2000):• to organise and apply extensionservices,• to train extension workers (in thecentre of training of Ahlem and MainCentrum of the Chamber for extensionworkers and farmers),• to conduct research (research instituteof Ahlemer and LUFA Hameln),• to provide contact among researchinstitutes,• to provide contact with universities(Hanover, Munich and Berlin) and• to improve contact with internationalresearch institutes (Denmark, TheNetherlands)138