ABSTRACT
The multiplicity of alternative service providers and institutional configurations which have appeared in the agricultural sectors of countries where public sector retrenchment is reasonably advanced is both exciting and daunting. Old style parastatals and government ministries have now been joined, superseded or substituted for by organisations ranging from smallscale farmer groups taking marketing into their own hands, to local subsidiaries of multinational giants supplying hybrid seed to farmers. In between these two extremes lies a continuum of different institutions, some organised in pursuit of financial profit, others in pursuit of social goals, some almost too close to the government organisations they replace, others radically opposed. University departments and unions, small-scale traders and NGOs are all feeling their way through the new environment, probing the boundaries and assessing the chances of fulfilling their at times conflicting objectives (Carney, 1995c).
