EXTENSION SYSTEM IN INDIA:

In India there are 4 major organizational streams are working for rural development:
1. ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research) institutes and Agriculture & veterinary
Universities.
2. Extension System of Ministry of Agriculture and State Departments of Agriculture.
3. Extension System of Ministry of Rural Development and the State Development
Departments.
4. Voluntary organisations, business houses etc.
FIRST LINE EXTENSION SYSTEM:
 Realizing the scope and importance of integrated working of interrelationship
between research, education and extension functions, the ICAR established a
section of Extension Education at its headquarters in 1971 which was later on
strengthened and renamed as Division of Agricultural Extension.
 It was intended to enforce this functional relationship down the line in the research
institutes, agricultural and veterinary universities and allied institutions.
 The involvement of ICAR in extension started with the formulation and
implementation of several front line extension programmes.
The programs were as follows:
1. National Demonstration (1964),
2. Operational Research Project (1972),
3. Krishi Vigyan Kendra (1974),
4. Lab to Land Programme (1979),
5. Frontline Demonstrations,
6. Technology Assessment and Refinement (TAR) -Institution Village
7. Linkage Programme (IVLP),
8. National Agricultural Technology Project (NATP),
9. Agricultural Technology Management Agency(ATMA),
National Demonstration (ND):
 Launched in 1964.
 Based on the concept of increasing the productivity per unit area and time by
using proven agricultural technology.
Basic purpose:
1. To show the genetic production potentiality of new technology of major crops.
2. To encourage the farmers to adopt and popularise the technologies.
Role of National Demonstration:
 The main role is to demonstrate.
 Production potentiality of a unit area.
 The use of implement for different operation.
 Use of soil testing labs for use of balanced fertilizer doses.
 Demonstration in improved cultivation.
 Provide first-hand knowledge
 Minimise the time lag between the research generated and its application
Operational research project (ORP):
 Initiated in 1974-75 to identify technological as well as socioeconomic constraints
and to formulate and implement a combination of technology modules on
area/watershed/target group basis.
 The performance of the new technology is to be tested on farmers’ fields at
operational level.
The roles of ORP were:
 Test, adopt and demonstrate the new agricultural technologies in farmer’s field in a
cluster of three to four villages or in a watershed area.
 Calculate profitability of the new technology meant for increasing production and
economic returns substantially.
 Identify socio-economic constraints affecting transfer of new technologies.
 Assess the credit worthiness of the new agricultural practices.
Krishi Vigyan Kendra:
 Established in 1974 at Pondicherry under the Tamilnadu Agricultural University
with an objective of imparting through work experience.
 Aimed at imparting training to extension workers, practicing farmers and fisherman
who wish to be self-employed.
 Priority is given to less resources available area.
Objectives of KVK:
1. To improve productivity in agriculture and allied enterprises.
2. To empower and utilize the energy of rural youth and farmwomen.
3. To generate employment in farm and non-farm sector.
4. Improve socio-economic condition of rural community.
Role of KVK:
1. Impart skill of farmers and rural youths through vocational training
2. Conduct Frontline Demonstration
3. Carry out On-farm Testing to fine tune the technologies based on farming situations
and develop location specific technology
4. Disseminate technologies in the districts by providing training to the extension
workers of the various line departments
5. Production of quality seed, seedling and different bio-agents, inputs and services to
enhance technology adoption.
Lab to land program (LLP):
 Implemented in 1979, by ICAR as a part of its Golden Jubilee celebrations.
 The aim of the programme is to improve the economic condition of the small and
marginal farmers and landless agricultural laborers, particularly scheduled castes
and scheduled tribes, by transfer of improved technology developed by the
agricultural universities, research institutes etc.
Role of Lab to Land Programme:
 Study and understand the background and resource of the selected farmers and
landless agricultural labourers.
 Assist the farmers to develop feasible farm plans.
 Guide and help the farmers in adopting improved technologies.
 Organise training programmes and other extension activities.
 Make the farmers aware of the various opportunities and agencies.
 Develop functional relation and linkage with the scientist and institutions for future
guidance, advisory service and help.
 Utilize this project as a feedback mechanism for the agricultural scientist and
extension functionaries.
Front Line Demonstration:
The field demonstrations conducted under the close supervision of scientists of the
National Agriculture Research System are called front-line demonstrations because the
technologies are demonstrated for the first time by the scientists themselves before being
fed into the main extension system of the State Department of Agriculture.
“Seeing is believing” is the main principle behind the demonstrations.
Roles of Front-Line Demonstration:
▶ Demonstrate the newly released production technologies on the farmers’ fields.
▶ Exploit their maximum potential in a given farming system.
▶ Prepare technical leadership in the villages by imparting desired training.
▶ Organize the need based training programmes for subject matter specialists and farmers,
after identification of problems.
▶ About 54,000 front line demonstrations were organized to demonstrate the production
potential of newly released production technologies in 2009.
Technology Assessment and Refinement (TAR):
▶ In 1995, the ICAR launched this innovative programme.
▶ Introduce technological interventions with emphasis on stability and sustainability along
with productivity of small-farm production systems;
▶ Introduce and integrate the appropriate technologies to sustain technological
interventions and their integration to maintain productivity and profitability taking
environmental issues into consideration in a comparatively well-defined farm production
system;
▶ Introduce and integrate the appropriate technologies to increase the agricultural
productivity with marketable surplus in commercial on and off farm production system;
▶ Facilitate adoption of appropriate post-harvest technologies for conservation and on-farm
value addition of agricultural products, by-products and waste for greater economic
dividend and national priorities;
▶ Facilitate adoption of appropriate technologies for removal of drudgery, increased
efficiency and higher income of farm women;
▶ Monitor socio-economic impact of the technological intervention for different farm
production systems;
▶ Identify extrapolation domains for new technology/technology modules based on
environmental characterization at meso and mega level.
National Agricultural Technology Project (NATP):
Launched by ICAR on June 30, 1998, with the support of the World Bank, to strengthen
and complement the existing resources and to augment the output of the National
Agricultural Research System (NARS).
The major role of this component is:
1) Accelerate the flow of technology form research, and extension to farmer.
2) Improve the dissemination of location specific and sustainability enhancing
technologies.
3) Decentralize technical and decision making authority to the district level.
4) Create a more effective and financially sustainable public extension system.
5) Step up the privatization of certain technology transfer activities.
Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA):
The roles of ATMA are:
▶ Strengthen research – extension – farmer linkages.
▶ Provide an effective mechanism for co-ordination and management of activities of
different agencies involved in technology adaption / validation and dissemination at the
district level and below.
▶ Increase the quality and type of technologies being disseminated.
▶ Move towards shared ownership of the agricultural technology system by key
shareholders.
▶ Develop new partnerships with the private institutions including NGOs.
National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP):
The Basic Role:
▶ Give the agricultural research and technology development system an explicit
development and business perspective through innovative models. In other words, the
agricultural research system should be able to support agriculture as a business venture and
also as a means of security of livelihood of the rural Indian while maintaining excellence in
science.
▶ Make the National Agricultural Research System a 'pluralistic' system where every
Organization having stake in agricultural research: public, private or civil society, has to
play a role.
▶ Working in well-defined partnership groups with clear common goals and understanding
on sharing responsibilities and benefits.
▶ Funding through competition so that a wide choice of excellent innovative ideas come in
from the stakeholders themselves.
▶ Work with focus, plan and time frames.
DEVELOPMENTAL PROGRAMMES OF PRE-INDEPENDENCE ERA
Objectives and Importance:
Over a period of about seventy years number of rural development experiments and
programmes were conducted in India. Long before the introduction of the Government
managed extension system at the national level in 1952, there had been sporadic attempts
in developing the rural life. Knowledge of the early extension efforts shall serve as a useful
background in understanding the development of systems of extension in India.
The early extension efforts had two distinct patterns. First, there were attempts by some
benevolent persons and private agencies to improve rural life. Second, attempts were made
at government level to initiate some projects to solve the pressing problems in agriculture.
When these experiments were conducted there existed certain conditions like, agriculture
was the primary occupation to a large percentage of population, extremely low purchasing
power, lack of application of science and technologies, lack of understanding about the
natural resources especially the flora and fauna of the region and their commercial usage,
lack of socio- economic organizations, etc. These realities are to be remembered before
understanding the past rural development works. When these experiments were conducted,
colonial rule was existing.
Merits and Demerits:
These programmes and experiments were conducted at different points of time, in
different regions, and under different politico-socio-economic conditions. They varied in
area, population coverage, financial and other resources. They were designed according to
the policy makers perception of problems and needs of people. Therefore common
evaluation is not possible and each experiment for programme is to be studied
independently for its approach, performance, effectiveness against the stated objectives,
etc.
The projects had one or the other shortcomings which may be summed up as follows:
1. Most of the efforts were based on individual initiative.
2. Government backing and financing were not forthcoming.
3. All attempts were isolated, uneven and discontinuous.
4. Staffs were mostly in experienced and untrained.
5. Plans and programmes were ill-defined and unbalanced.
6. Need for proper methods and skills for approach was not realized.
7. No evaluation was carried out; hence the results were not known.
8. Association and coordination other development departments were very limited
9. Involvement of the people in planning and execution i.e. finding out the problems and
their solutions was very limited.
Sriniketan Project (1914):
Shri Rabindra Nath Tagore wanted to develop a Centre to extend his ideas on
education in a rural setting. During 1914 he established a rural reconstruction institute at
Sriniketan involving youth from a group of 8 villages. It maintained a demonstration farm,
a dairy and poultry unit, an outdoor clinic, a department of cottage industries and a village
school. These agencies were to treat the villages as their laboratory to identify problems
and test their ideas. The villages were expected to approach these agencies through the
village workers to obtain solution of their more pressing problems. These social workers
lived in the villages and worked with the people.
At Sriniketan centre, agriculture, dairy and poultry were the foremost activities.
Scheme of land development and tree plantation were given due importance. Experiment
on paddy, sugarcane and cotton were undertaken. Improved seeds, vegetable seedlings,
fruit grafts and saplings were distributed. New breeds of cattle were introduced. Local
artisans were trained in cottage industries. Other activities were village scout movement,
village developmental council, health, cooperatives, and circulating library and village
fairs.
Drawbacks:
1. This institute could not get Government help and support.
2. It could not do research work and hence the programmes remained limited to those 8
villages only.
Economic Conference of Mysore:
This programme was operated in Mysore state of the present Karnataka in the year
1914- 1918. The objectives were: 1) achieve all round progress, 2) bringing related
economic development, and 3) give first priority to agriculture. District and taluk comittees
with the respective revenue officers were the officials responsible with a chairman. The
officers of the development departments and the selected non-officials were members.
The committee surveyed the needs and possibilities, listed them, fixed the priorities and
suggested the means for attaining them. But this programme was discontinued due to the
immense work load to the officials and non-involvement of the people in the programme.
Marthandam Project (1921) :
During 1921 under the auspices of YMCA, Marthandam project was started at
Travancore in Kerala by Dr. Spencer Hatch, an American agricultural expert specialized in
sociology. Fundamental aim of this programme was fivefold development of physical,
spiritual, mental, economic and social; Dr. Hatch implemented an all-round development in
agriculture, public health and education.
 In this Centre prize bulls and goats, model bee-hives, demonstration plots for
improving grain and vegetable seeds, poultry with prize laying hens, a weaving shed, etc.
were maintained.
It also worked for improving literacy. On weekly market day it set up a protable
tent with teaching equipment’s, and exhibits with better poultry and livestock. The Centre
also promoted the cooperative. The society developed the improved breeds of egg layers
and good bees. It assisted the people for marketing their products through cooperative
organizations. In 1939, the egg selling cooperative society becomes a self-governing body.
Another society 'honey club' was also formed. This society cured the honey brought by
villagers and marketed cooperatively. There were bull clubs, weavers' clubs, etc. These
cooperative organizations are still continued by YMCA and the rural development is taken
up intensively.
Firka Development Programme (1946):
This programme was started by Government in the last quarter of 1946 in Firkas
throughout Madras state. It was extended to another 50 additional Firkas at the rate of two
Firkas per district.
Selection of Firkas:
1. On the basis of their backwardness.
2. Possibilities for increasing the production of handloom clothes and other cottage
industries.
Objectives:
1. To tackle the rural problem as a whole.
2. Preparation of short term plans for the development of rural communication, water
supply.
3. Formation of panchayats and organization of cooperatives.
4. Long term plan to make the area self-sufficient through agricultural, irrigational and
livestock improvements.
5. Development of Khadi and Cottage Industries.
Gurgaon Project (1920):
Towards the end of 1920 F. L. Brayne, an Englishman, was posted as Deputy
Commissioner of Gurgaon district. After his assumption of the charge he studied the area
by touring and observed that the people were extremely poor, dirty and unhealthy, with no
conscious desire for any better because they had no idea that anything better was possible.
After seven years of study he developed a scheme called "The Gurgaon scheme" with the
following objectives:
- to jerk the villagers out of their old groove and convince them that improvement is
possible;
- he must be laughed out of his economic and unhealthy customs and taught better ways of
living and farming.
He took the whole district as the field of operation and approached the area with
every form of propaganda and publicity.
Under his programme village guides were posted in each village, who acted as the
channel to pass on the information to villagers. The programme introduced improved seeds,
implements, methods of cultivation, etc. The activities introduced by Brayne were:
1. A school of rural economy to train the village guides in 1925.
2. A domestic school of economy to train groups of women under women and children
welfare work in 1926.
3. Health association, which ran five health centres in the district.
4. A women's Institute at Gurgaon to manage the ladies' garden in Gurgaon.
As the village guides were not technical men, only very little could be achieved.
Indian Village Service (1945):
Arther T. Mosher of New York and B.N.Gupta established it in 1945.The objectives
were to assist village people to realize the best in their own village by developing
individuals, volunteer leaders and local agencies, and establishing them to be effective in
helping themselves and others. It was mainly to assist the government in villages.
For the realization of these objectives the organization adopted the techniques of personal
contact, informal group discussion, use of volunteers, demonstrations, use and production
of visual aids, exhibitions, tours, dramas, books, periodicals etc. It was financially
supported by the contribution and donations.
POST-INDEPENDENCE EXTENSION AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT
ROGRAMMES
Introduction:
The urgent need for stepping up food production was realised even in the pre-
Independence era and a Grow-More-Food Campaign was started. Under the campaign,
targets for increased agricultural production were laid down for the first time on an all-
India basis. But the campaign failed to achieve its targets. Soon after Independence (1947),
the Central Government re-defined the objectives of the Grow-More-Food Campaign as the
attainment of self-sufficiency in food grains by 1952, and simultaneously increased the
targets of production of other crops to meet the shortfall as a result of the partition of the
country. At the same time, arrangements were made for integration and co-ordination of
the entire campaign for increasing agricultural production. Some state governments
associated the public with working of the campaign by setting up of non-official
committees at the village, taluka, district and state levels. The plans were revised from time
to time in order to make the campaign more effective. Accordingly, some initiatives in this
direction were taken, which are given as under:
Etawah pilot project (1948):
The idea of intensive all-round development work in a compact area was put into
practice as a Pilot Project in Rural Planning and Development in the Etawah District in
Uttar Pradesh in 1948, which can be regarded as a forerunner of the Community
Development Project in India. Albert Mayer, an American Engineer, played the key role in
the initiation and implementation of the project. The programme was based on the principle
of self-help, democracy, integrated approach, felt needs of the people, rigorous planning
and realistic targets, institutional approach, co-operation between governmental and non-
governmental organizations, close co-ordination between the extension service and the
supply agencies and the collaboration by technical and social scientists. After an initial
period of trial and error, a new administrative pattern was evolved. It percolated to the
village level; the activities of different nation-building departments were channelled
through one common agency and a multipurpose concept of village level worker was
introduced. Each village level worker looked after 4-5 villages. The project was supervised
by a district planning officer assisted by four specialist officers and other supporting staff.
Community development
Year Programme/scheme Person/agency/ approach
1948 Nilokheri experiment (Mazdoor Manzil) Shree S. K. Dey
1948 Etawah pilot project Albert Mayer
1952 CDP Community Development Programme
 1953 NES National Extension Service
1954 CDB Community Development Block
Panchayati
1957 Panchayati Raj Raj Democratic Decentralization
Technological development
Year Programme/scheme Person/agency/ approach
1952 Key village Scheme Government of India
1960 IADP Intensive Agricultural District Programme
1964 IAAP Intensive Agricultural Area Programme
1963-64 ICDP Intensive Cattle Development Project
1966 HYVP High Yielding Variety Programme
1974 T&V Training & Visit System
1979 LLP Lab to Land Programme
1983 NAEP National Agricultural Extension Project
1986 TMO Technology Mission on Oilseeds
1998 NATP National Agricultural Technology Project
1999 TAR-IVLP Technology Assessment and Refinement Institute
Village Linkage Programme
2000 ATIC Agricultural Technology Information Centre
2006 NAIP National Agricultural Innovation Project
Other developmental programmes
Year Programme/scheme Person/agency/ approach
1970-1971 SFDA Small Farmers Development Agency
1970-1971 MFAL Marginal Farmers and Agricultural Labourers Programme
1970-1971 DPAP Drought Prone Areas Programme
1972-1973 PPTD Pilot Project for Tribal Development
1974 T&V Training and Visit Programme
1978-1979 IRDP Integrated Rural Development Programme
1979 TRYSEM Training of Rural Youth for Self-Employment
1980 NREP National Rural Employment Programme
1982 DWCRA Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas
1989 JRY Jawahar Rojgar Yojana
Nilokheri experiment (1948):
Shree S. K. Dey, was the founder of the Nilokheri Experiment, when nearly 7000
displaced persons from Pakistan and later integrated with the 100 surrounding villagesin to
what came to be rural-cum-urban township. It was built round the vocational
training centrer Nilokheri, in July 1948. Shree Dey began this project using 1100 acre of
swampy land spreading in the midst of Karnal and Kurukshetra. Shree Dey went on to
become the Union Minister of Community Development in 1965. The scheme was also
known as "Mazdoor Manzil" because of its principle 'he who will not work, neither shall he
eat'.
Under this programme, the main activities were a Vocational Training Centre run
on co-operative lines and the Colony had its own dairy, poultry, piggery, printing press,
engineering workshops, tannery and bone-meal factory. People were given vocational
training of their choice to run these Co-operative Enterprises. Rights for education and
medical care for the sick were also guaranteed.
Community development project (1952):
As a result of the Grow-More-Food Enquiry Committee Report and the successful
experience of the Etawah Project, 15 Pilot Projects were started in 1952 in selected states
with the financial assistance recieved from the Ford Foundation. Besides helping to
increase agriculture production and bettering the overall economic condition of the farmers,
these projects were meant to serve as a training ground for the extension persnnel. It was
soon realised that for the creation of an urge among the rural population to live a better life
and to achieve permanent plentitude and economic freedom in the villages, a much bolder
and dynamic effort was called for. It was recognized that the success of this new effort
depended upon and whole hearted co-operation of the beneficiaries, government officials
and non-officials at every stage, the education of rural masses in the technique of rural
development and the timely provision of adequate supplies of the needed inputs and other
requirements.
For undertaking this new programme, the Government of India entered into an
operational agreement with the Government of the USA under the Technical Co-operation
Programme Agreement. Under this Agreement, 55 Community Development Projects were
started in different parts of the country on 2nd October, 1952 for three years.
The Projects covered nearly 25,260 villages and a population of 6.4 millions. Each
project, in turn, consisted of about 300 villages covering 400-500 square miles and having
a population of about two lakhs. The project area was divided into three development
blocks, each comprising 100 villages and a population of 60,000 to 70,000. The
development blocks, in turn, were divided into groups of 5-10 villages, each group being in
the charge of a multipurpose village-level worker. The main aims of these projects were: to
increase agricultural production by all possible means, to tackle the problems of
unemployment, to improve village communications, to foster primary education, public
health and recreation, to improve housing, to promote indigeneous handicrafts and small-
scale industries and to improve the villager's lot through their own primary effort. In short,
the programme aimed at achieving all-round socio-economic transformation of the rural
people.
Grow-more-food enquiry committee report (1952):
Though efforts were made to revitalize the Grow-More-Food Campaign, it was
observed that the system was not functioning properly and the cultivator's response to the
programme was very poor. As a result, the Government of India in 1952 appointed a
committee known as the GMF Enquiry Committee to examine the working of the Grow-
More-Food Campaign.
The findings of this Committee revealed that the problem of food production was
much wider than the mere elimination of food imports and that agricultural improvement
was a very important part of a much wider problem of raising the level of rural life in the
country. The Committee came to the conclusion that it was only by bringing about an
appreciable improvement in the standards of rural life to make it fuller and richer that the
rural masses could be awakened to take interest in not only increasing agricultural
production but also improving their own conditions and creating a will to live better. The
committee also pointed out that:
 All aspects of village life were interrelated,
 Improvement could be brought about by a number of detached programmes
operating independently,
  There was lack of unity of efforts,
 The available finances was not adequate
The rural community as a whole did not participate effectively in the campaign. In
short, the movement did not arouse nation-wide enthusiasm and did not become a mass
movement for raising the level of village life.
In its recommendations, the Committee proposed the formation of development
block, each consisting of 100 to 120 villages, and the appointment of revenue officers as
development officers or extension officers, assisted by technical officers for agriculture,
animal husbandry, co-ordination and engineering. For actual work in villages, the
Committee suggested the appointment of one village level worker for every five or ten
villages. The Committee also described broadly the functions of the extension service, the
manner in which the extension organisation would operate, the arrangements required in
training of the required staff, the way in which the non-official leadership should be
associated with the work of village development at the village, taluka, district and state
levels. The need for setting up an independent organisation on the suggestions made, the
manner in which the assistance should be rendered to the state governments as well as to
villagers for development work, the role of the central and state governments in this effort
was also emphasized by the committee.
Based on these recommendations, the Planning Commission, which was set up
earlier by the Government of India to prepare a plan for development consistent with the
available resources, gave the highest priority to the development of agriculture and
irrigation in the First Five-Year Plan. The Commission fixed substantially high targets of
internal production and decided, as recommended by the Enquiry Committee, that the drive
for food production should form part of plans for overall agricultural development, and that
agricultural improvement in its turn should form an integral part of the much wider efforts
for raising the level of rural life. The Commission prescribed "Community Development"
as the method for initiating the process of transformation of the social and economic life of
villages and "Rural Extension" as its agency.
National extension service (1953):
The National Extension Service was inaugurated on 2nd October 1953. The scheme of
National extension service was designed to provide the essential basic staff and a small
fund for the people to start the development work essentially on the basis of self-help. The
operational unit of this service was an N.E.S. block comprising about 100 villages and
60,000 to 70,000 people. The N.E.S. blocks were later converted into community
development blocks which had higher budget provisions in order to take up more intensive
development programmes. The pattern of community development programme was further
revised (modified with effect from 1 st April 1958). According to this pattern, there were
four stages:
 Pre-Extension Stage
 Stage I Blocks
 Stage II Blocks
 Post-Stage II Blocks
In this new set-up of community development blocks, all the nation-building
government departments were brought together; and in order to ensure co-ordination at the
block level, a new post of a Block Development Officer (BDO) was created. This officer is
the co-ordinator of the programme and team leader and is supported by 8 extension officers
drawn from the development departments, one each from the fields of agriculture, animal
husbandry, co-operative, panchayat, rural industry, rural development, social education and
welfare of women & children. Each normal block was provided with 10 village level
workers and two gram sevikas (lady VLWs).
Under this new set-up, the block is treated as an administrative unit for all the
development departments, and the village-level worker is the contact person between these
departments and the people.
Key village scheme (1952):
Key Village Scheme launched in August 1952 was the first systematic attempt to
improve the quality and productivity of cattle and buffaloes in the country. It was proposed
with a view to promote intensive cattle development in compact areas by utilising the
limited quantity of high quality breeding stock. Basic objective of the scheme is the rapid
multiplication of crossbred cattle for meeting the acute shortage of high quality animals by
grading up of the indigenous cattle population. Gradually it embraced all the major aspects
of cattle development such as superior breeding, castration of scrub bulls, fodder
development, control of diseases, maintenance of records, milk recording and marketing of
livestock and livestock products.
VARIOUS EXTENSION/AGRICULTURE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES:
Intensive Agricultural District Programme (IADP-1960):
A new programme named as IADP was formulated which was launched gradually
from 1960. The third five year plan (1961-1966) incorporated this programme into the
planned development process. This programme was popularly known as a "package
programme". This name was given because of the collective and simultaneous application
of all practices of improved seeds, irrigation, fertilizer, plant protection, implements, credit,
etc. This programme was started in July 1960 in seven selected districts in various states.
They were (I) West Godavari in AP, (ii) Shahabad in Bihar, (iii) Tanjore in Tamil Nadu,
(iv) Raipur in MP, (v) Ludhiana in Punjab; (vi)Pali in Rajasthan; and (vii) Aligarh in UP.
The selections of these districts were done on the basis of their high potentiality for
increasing the yield in shorter time.
Objectives:
I. to achieve rapid increase in the level of agriculture production through a concentration of
financial, technical, extension and administrative resources;
II. to achieve a self-generating breakthrough in productivity and to raise the production
potential by stimulating the human and physical process of change; and
III. to demonstrate the most effective ways of increasing production and thus, to provide
lessons for extending such intensified agricultural production programes to other areas.
Intensive Agricultural Area Programme (IAAP-1964):
During the third five year plan 30 per cent increase in food grain production was
achieved through IADP.
The intensive promotion of agriculture was very popular among policymakers and
administrators. As a result of this a revised version of IADP with less intensive and
therefore less costly programme was formulated and launched in selected blocks of 150
districts. It was named as IAAP. The selected blocks were to have the same physical
conditions as in the case of selection of districts for IADP. Under this programme 20 to 25
per cent of the cultivated area of the country was brought under the intensive agricultural
development.
This programme also followed the package approaches of use of improved
methods. The uses of interrelated factors of physical, social and institutional were also
followed in a strategic combination mainly to produce an impact on agricultural
production. The management of these programmes did not function as envisaged. There
were many weaknesses of deficiency in inter-agency and inter-personal coordination,
inadequate staff motivation, malpractices, non-formulation of local production plans on
proper lines and delay in delivery of inputs to farmers. However, the production and
productivity were modest. The highly adverse conditions (droughts) during 1966-68 served
as a big blow. The food grains output was still insufficient to meet the rising domestic
demands. Imports were also continued to supplement the local production.
High Yielding Variety Programme (HYVP-1966)
HYVP is launched in 1966, which helped the country in attaining self-sufficiency
in food. The technological development did not remain confined to the introduction of high
yielding crop varieties alone. These were combined with the application of high analysis
and balanced fertilizer, irrigation, plant protection, improved implements etc, which made a
'green revolution' possible in the country. The pervasive influence of high yielding
technology spread to other areas of farm production such as animal production, such as
animal production, fishery, sericulture, social forestry etc. Punjab, Haryana and Western
parts of UP were initially selected for the phased launching of this strategy. The cultivation
of HYV since 1966-67 had resulted in a substantial increase in food grains production.
Wheat production was doubled. Rice production also had a substantial increase, though not
as much as in the case of wheat. The target of coverage of 2.5 crore hectares of area under
HYVs of cereals and millets under fourth five year plan was exceeded. The coverage was
more than four crore hectares.
Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVKs):
Krishi Vigyan Kendra (1974). The KVKs covered whole District.
Concept of KVKs: The basic concepts of KVK are:
1. The centre will impart learning through work experience and hence, will be concerned
with technical literacy,
2. The centre will impart training only to those extension agents who are already employed
or practicing farmers and fisherman.
Principles of KVK programme:
1. Agricultural production as the prime goal.
2. Work experience as the main method of importing training; and
3. Priority to weaker sections of the society, are the backbone of the KVK programme.
Objectives of KVK-
1. Plan and conduct survey of the operational area to prepare the resource inventory and to
identify the training needs of the farming community.
2. Plan and conduct production oriented, need based, short and long duration training
courses,
3. Conducting first-line demonstrations on the latest farm technologies in the interest of the
farmers, extension workers and the scientists.
4. Provide training facilities in homemaking and nutrition education for rural community
etc.
Mandates of Reorganized KVK System-
Mandate means a specific set of responsibility to perform.
1. Training programmes.
2. Frontline demonstrations, and
3. On Form testing
Institutional Village Linkage Programme (IVLP) - 1995-96
IVLP is an innovative program developed by the ICAR to help scientists to have
direct interaction with the farming community so that appropriate technologies are
developed for farmers. Here research, extension and farmers establish firm links by
carrying together the assessment and refinement functions in the technology development
and dissemination process.
Research and Extension as an Integral Part of Technology Development Objectives of
IVLP as per ICAR guidelines are as follows:
1. To introduce technological intervention with emphasis on stability and sustainability
along with productivity of small production systems.
2. To introduce and integrate the appropriate technologies to sustain technological
interventions and their integration to maintain productivity and profitability taking
environmental issues into consideration in a comparatively well defined production system.
3. To facilitate adoption of appropriate technologies for removal of drudgery, increase
efficiency and higher income of farm women.
Methodology of implementation of IVLP as per ICAR guidelines are given below:
1. Selection of participating Institutions
a. ICAR and ICAR Institutes
b. SAUs & their Regional Research Statins / Zonal Research Stations.
c. Krishi Vigyan Kendras
2. Selection of village
One village or a cluster of villages to cover about 1000 farm families.
a. The selected village should not be far away from the research station
b. Should have asses through road
c. Should be a relatively poorly developed in agriculture
3. Constitution of multi-disciplinary team of scientists
Core team : Those scientists whose disciplines are essentially needed
Optional team : The other disciplines depending upon the needs of the area.
1. Selection of team leader
2. Provide training to the multi-disciplinary team
6. Implementation of action plan
a. On-farm research
b. Demonstration
c. On-farm trials
7. Monitoring and Evaluation
a. Regular visit of team members
b. Technical staff posted for the village
Operational Research Project (ORP):- 1975
The Operational research Project (ORP), according to Prasad, Choudhary and
Nayar (1987), aimed at disseminating the proven technology in a discipline/area among
farmers on a watershed basis, covering the whole village or a cluster of village, and
concurrently studying constraints ( technological, extension or administrative) as barriers to
the rapid spread of improved technological know-how. The ORPs considered two kinds of
problems: first, the common agricultural problems affecting the farming community
requiring group or community action e.g. plant protection and rodent control; and secondly,
total resources development of the watershed area.
The specific objectives of ORP were as follows:
1. To test, adopt and demonstrates the new agricultural technology on farmers’ fields in a
whole village or in a cluster of few contiguous village/watershed area.
2. To determine the profitability of the new technologies and their pace of spread among
the farmers.
To demonstrate group action as a method of popularizing the modern technologies at a
faster rates.
National Demonstration Project (NDP):
The National Demonstration Project was the oldest and first transfer of technology project
in the country implemented through ICAR in the year 1965, on a modest scale with the
introduction of high yielding production potentiality of new technologies and influencing
the farmers as well as the extension agencies.
The main objectives of the project were as follows:
•To demonstrate convincingly to farmers and extension workers, the genetic production
potentialities of major crops for the area per unit acre of land per unit time and encourage
them to adopt/popularize these technologies for accelerating the production.
•To fully exploit these demonstrations for the purpose of training farmers and field
extension workers in improved cultivation practices.
•To provide the research workers a firsthand knowledge of the problems being faced by
farmers in adopting high yielding varieties and practicing recommended package of
practices.
•To determine the income and employment generation potentialities of the crop under
demonstrations and to educate the farmers and extension workers about them; and,
•To influence extension system (state departments of agriculture, voluntary organizations
etc.) in the country by demonstrating the yield gaps and pointing out the operational
constraints.
This project was taken up into 100 districts of the country and annually over 5000
demonstrations were conducted in the farmer's field by the scientists. In 1975, when ORP
was introduced the operational districts were reduced to 50 only. At present, NDP is not
functioning.
National Agricultural Technology Project (NATP):
National Agriculture Technology programme was conceived as a pilot project. It
was launched in November, 1998. It was an initiation of government of India with World
Bank Assistance. Under this project, Innovations in Technology Dissemination (ITD)
component has been planned, which aims at developing a transfer of Technology (TOT)
system that is demand driven, well integrated with research and financially sustainable and
accountable to stake holders of agricultural development.
The innovation in technology dissemination (ITD) component of the project aimed
at addressing key constraints in technology generation, validation and dissemination by
introducing new institutional models and operational reform process in selected states. The
states were namely Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra,
Orissa and Punjab. The project was pilot tested in four districts of above mentioned each
states.
National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP):
The world bank assisted agricultural research programme called the National
Agricultural Innovation project (NAIP) was launched in India in July, 2006, for a period of
six years, The project focus on innovations in agricultural technology. The project would
facilitate an accelerated and suitable transformation of the Indian agriculture so that it can
support poverty alleviation and income generation.
Objective of NAIP-
1. To build the critical capacity of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) as a
catalyzing agent for management of change of the Indian National Agriculture Research
System (NARS).
2. To promote research in the production-to-consumption system mode in the priority
area/themes to enhance agricultural productivity and profitability and, nutrition, income
and employment of the rural stakeholders. To build capacity to undertake basic and
strategic research in strategic areas of agricultural sciences, to meet the technology
development challenges in the immediate and predictable future.