On paper, India’s agricultural extension system is one of the largest in the world. But a sizeable part of it, especially the extension agencies of state governments, is in a state of utter disarray, if not total collapse. This is one of the reasons for the recent bad patch in the country’s agriculture — marked with deceleration in its growth and farmers’ distress.
The bulk of the onus of technology and knowledge transfer from the agricultural research organisations to the farmers has, therefore, fallen on the institutions of the Central government. The private sector, too, is now getting into this field using modern means of communication.
On behalf of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), which oversees the national agricultural research system (NARS), this onerous task is being performed chiefly by the Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), or agricultural science centres, which now number around 570 and cover almost all districts of the country. In fact, the mandate of KVKs goes beyond demonstration and transfer of technology. They also have to ascertain the relevance of technology to the local situation and, if need be, the refinement of technology to serve that purpose.
Fortunately, many of these KVKs are doing a good job. This has led to widening of the role played by them in the 11th Plan to serve as resource and knowledge centres for supporting the agricultural development initiatives of public, private and voluntary sectors.
According to ICAR’s Deputy Director-General (Agriculture Extension) KD Kokate, the kind of knowledge being sought by the farmers has changed in the modern context when the emphasis is on raising farm incomes and not merely production. “The farmers need to know the answers to questions like what to produce, when to produce, how much to produce, as also when, where and in what form to sell their produce to get good prices,” he says. Besides, some farmers also seek information on operations like grading, packaging, storage, transportation and quality certification for their produce.
This apart, the extension agencies have to meet the specific needs of small farmers who outnumber the medium and large farmers. Many of the problems faced by them are entirely different from those faced by the large farmers. Their access to critical production resources as well as risk-bearing capacity are limited. They may seek low-cost and low-risk technologies to optimise their production and income.
Another dimension of Indian agriculture is the growing participation of women in farm operations. In fact, the number of women-headed farms is on the rise. This has necessitated generation and promotion of women-friendly farm technologies.
Thus, innovative methods of putting across group-specific know-how and other information, and the use of information and communication technology (ICT) have become important to satiate the farmers’ hunger for knowledge. Realising this, the extension wing of the ICAR has already begun equipping the KVKs with electronic means of communication to ensure speedy transfer of information.
Over 190 KVKs and eight zonal project directorates, which coordinate their work, have already been linked through e-connectivity with other stakeholders, including farmers. Also, mobile telephone-based SMS advisory services are being provided to the farmers by some KVKs. Kokate said the KVKs in Pune and Ahmednagar have managed to bring about significant improvements in agriculture in these districts by disseminating information through ICT on weather, market conditions and other relevant issues.
The noteworthy progress made in the horticulture sector in Maharashtra can also be attributed in good measure to the efforts made by the KVKs in promoting horticultural crops to enhance farmers’ income. The vital research support for generating suitable technology for these crops had come from the farm research system.
However, such success stories, albeit quite significant, are few in number. They need to be multiplied to be able to make a country-wide impact. The KVKs alone may not be able to do so unless state-level extension systems are also revamped and equipped with ICT tools for wider, yet cost-effective, outreach.
KVKs’ personnel remain in touch with technological innovations because they are involved in trying out new technologies to assess their relevance to local conditions. But the state extension personnel usually do not have such exposure to the latest know-how. Therefore, they need effective backward linkage with research organisations to continuously update their knowledge to be able to do their job effectively.
