Teaching Management into the 21st Century: A Southern Perspective

The main purpose of teaching management into the 21st Century, to a typical farm- household in the South, is to facilitate it to produce, on a sustainable basis and from the same or declining area of land, (i) more and better food for own and local consumption, and (ii) commodities for processing and export so as to improve its income and quality of life and to contribute to national development. To be effective, teaching should (i) be simple, economic, participative, and interactive and (ii) include women and younger generation. It does not necessarily mean drastic changes in the existing philosophy of management teaching to farm-household but does imply a significant improvement in application. To attain the desired results, its training should be accompanied by improved management on the part of extension agencies, farmers ’ organization, supporting services, and policy managers, whose lapses are often more responsible for the failure of the farmer to properly adopt and manage the extension advice, than the lack of sincere efforts on his part.