Economic and social outcomes of investment on extension and advisory services in Tajikistan’s agrifood system

Findings of recent study shows that in 2021, roughly 5 percent of farms and nearly 14 percent of arable land used professional extension services. Extension service actors in Tajikistan include Ministry of Agriculture, Tajik Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Tajik Agrarian University, government extension specialists at the village level, the private sector, and NGOs, with a total staff of about 2,250 people, of whom about 600 are trained to provide professional extension services (Muminov 2021). The government’s fiscal space is limited the extent of support to such investments. Thus, there is a notable underinvestment in extension and advisory services (EAS), 2.4 percent of total public expenditure in agriculture sector between 2016-2019 (World Bank 2021). In this brief, for evaluating the potential impact of investment on extension and advisory services to accelerate agricultural transformation and inclusiveness in Tajikistan AFS, we rely on the IFPRI’s Rural Investment and Policy Analysis (RIAPA) economywide dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model which incorporates household survey-based microsimulation and investment modules, and simulates the functioning of a market economy, comprising markets for products and factors which include land, labor, and capital (IFPRI 2023).