Members of the parliamentary consultative committee attached to the agriculture ministry today endorsed the scheme for setting up agri-clinics and agri-business centres by agricultural graduates to provide technical know-hows and services to farmers.
The scheme, already approved by the government, proposes to facilitate availability of bank finance and 25 per cent government subsidy to the agricultural graduates to run these clinics. The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has been made the nodal agency for this purpose. The farmers will have to pay for the services and advice.
Though some members expressed apprehensions about the implementation of the scheme and ensuing benefits to non-progressive farmers, they generally supported the scheme.
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Agriculture minister Ajit Singh told the committee in its meeting, here, today that the existing extension system had suffered a decline and was unable to cope with the challenges of modern agriculture. The states were unable to meet the expenditure on deploying such a large number of village level extension workers who were neither well-trained nor adequately qualified to transfer the modern technology to the farmers.
Input management was crucial for raising farm production. New seeds and technology being developed by research centres needed to be put in practice. This required an extension system different from the one existing at present, the minister said.