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The ministry of agriculture has introduced an umbrella scheme to augment agricultural extension and technology activities with the objective of improving the supply of the agricultural commodities from the grass root level.
According to official sources, the impetus on agricultural extension has to go hand in hand with technology for three primary areas of supply to the farmers – seeds, pesticides and machinery. To ensure food security, the consistency in major crops production has become imperative. Otherwise, any big shortfall of any crop in a country in India could create global food price imbalances. Incidentally this is one of the areas of concern for the talks at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Accordingly, four sub missions have been merged into one scheme – agricultural extension, seed and planting material, agricultural mechanisation and plant protection and plant quarantine to create one major scheme called National Mission for agricultural extension and technology. .
There are many new concepts designed to promote awareness of farmers at the grass root level of the recent developments in agric farming and technology. Officials said, states on other hand cannot do such wide spread awareness by relying only on its own agricultural officials. New cadre has been developed among the villages in the block and district level to take up this activity and act as link between the government and farmers.
Awareness of new technology and practices will be spread among the farmers at the block and village level by setting up numerous “agri clinics” to be run by personnel skilled in agricultural practices, similar to doctors running medical clinics, said officials. To ensure food and nutritional security, farm women food security groups will be set up, three such groups per block. Such groups will act as model food security hubs by establishing kitchen garden, backyard poultry, goatery, anima; husbandry, dairying, mushroom cultivation etc.
There is one more concept of farm schools where such farmer friends will impart the advice to other farmers of their experiences and other new developments. For a particular crop, there will be a formation of commodity interest groups who will comprise 20-25 farmers. This will be organised for all major commodities
Quality seeds have been a perennial problem for the farmers, more so when the monsoon pattern differs from year to year. They explained that this year, the monsoon picked up in the month of the July and is expected to continue in the month of August for many parts of the country. However the right variety of seed will be high yielding low water consuming crop varieties which has be advised to the farmers under the contingency plan. Now the water will help the plants to grow. Such advices will become more handy with such agri-clinics to be set up across villages and blocks in a state.
Another area of focus is custom hiring, mechanisation of farm practices in select villages, subsidy for procurement of machines and equipments.
In order to spread awareness of new agri technology and practices, some new concepts has been designed such farmer friends who will advice on agriculture and allied activities. Farmer friends are the farmers who have achieved success in farming in various areas.
States have been advised to seek funding under flagship scheme of Ashtray Krishi Vikas Yojana ( RKVY) for building the infrastructure support to support this scheme in the states.
