Policy Framework for Agriculture Extension Interface with Private Sector Organizations
October 30, 2001, New Delhi

Keynote Address by Prof. MS Swaminathan, Chairman, M S Swaminathan
Research Foundation

Our agriculture is at the crossroads. In one sense, we have been very successful in increasing the production of basic staples like rice and wheat. On the other hand, consumption capacity on the part of the economically underprivileged actions of the society is not improving. Also, with the coming into force of the WTO Agreement in agriculture, we are finding that the production techniques and productivity of farmers' farming are not able to compete with those of factory farming, endowed with technology, capital and subsidies. It is clear that we have to achieve the following revolutions, if our agriculture is to become economically rewarding and intellectually stimulating and thereby is in a position to attract and retain educated youth in farming.

• Productivity revolution
  
• Quality revolution
  
• Income and livelihood revolution
  
• Management and marketing revolution, which can confer on small producers the advantages of scale both in the production and post-harvest phases of agriculture. It is such a management and institutional revolution that has taken us to a position of leadership in the Dairy and Poultry sectors.
  

In the above context, we should review how our vast research, educational and extension infrastructure could be retooled and restructured to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow. The most urgent tasks today are enhancement of productivity per units of land and water as well as achieving a quantum jump in quality improvement. Quality has to be judged by culinary, organo-leptic, nutritional and processing characteristics. Our agriculture, which was christened, as a gamble in the monsoon is fast becoming a gamble in the market.

Thrust Areas during the Tenth Plan Period

Emphasising the critical role of agriculture in food, livelihood and ecological security as well as national sovereignty, the Steering Committee on Agriculture and Allied sectors, set up by the Planning Commission has made the following recommendations.

• Achieve 4% growth rate in agriculture and 8% in horticulture, animal products and fisheries.
  
• Unleash the untapped potential of major farming systems through integrated packages of technologies, services, including inputs like seed and public policies.
  
• Defend, extend and make new gains and convert "grey" into "green" areas.
  
• Achieve natural resources conservation and enhancement (land, water, bio-diversity, forests, living aquatic resources, atmosphere).
  
• Foster a quality revolution (cooking, processing, freedom from mycotoxins, etc.)
  
• Improve the income and employment (non-farm and on-farm) potential of agriculture and set up agro-industrial complexes in rural areas. Income enhancement is essential for improving consumption.
  
• Take note of market shifts in demand and consumption as well trends in employment pattern and promote scientific land and water use planning and farming systems diversification and value addition.
  
• Widen the food and feed security baskets, through greater attention to under-utilised crops and forage grasses.
  
• Achieve a considerable increase in agricultural exports, particularly in value-added commodities (such as organic and processed foods).
  

Research Strategies

• Strategic research involving frontier technologies, such as bio, information, space, nuclear and renewable energy technologies needs considerable intensification.
  
• Anticipatory research for mitigating the potential impact of climate change and ultraviolet-B radiation.
  
• Participatory research with farm women and men in order to develop location specific technologies which are environmentally sustainable and socially acceptable.
  
• Cooperative research with private sector R&D institutions.
  

National Challenge Projects

The Steering Committee has recommended that the following National Challenge Projects may be initiated during the Tenth Plan Period.

• Waste land development using Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojana
  
• Agro-Aqua farms along coastal region (linking ecological with livelihood security)
  
• Deep Sea Fishing
  
• Minor irrigation in Eastern India
  
• Gender dimensions of agricultural research, extension and development
  
• Organic Farming Zones
  
• Disease Free Zones in Cattle
  
• Conservation of animal and microbial genetic resources
  
• Soil Health Management with particular reference to micro-nutrient deficiencies
  
• Sanitary and phytosanitary measures and codex alimentarius standards
  

Retooling and Retraining Extension Services for an Ever-green Revolution in Agriculture

The term ever-green revolution refers to a continuous improvement in crop and animal productivity without associated ecological or social harm. In other words, an ever-green revolution implies a vertical growth in productivity in perpetuity. We have no scope for a horizontal expansion in area and we have no option except to produce more crop per drop of water and per plot of land. This will call for taking to eco-farming techniques which are both ecologically sound and economically efficient. We must achieve cost reduction without yield loss. This will be possible only through precision farming techniques rooted in the principles of ecology, economics and efficiency.

The new Farmers' Farming will be based on knowledge, dynamic information and farm grown biological inputs, while Factory Farming will continue to be based on capital, chemicals and subsidies. Our major problem is to convert the vast know-how available in our research institutions into field-level know how. How can we convert know how into do how in a manner that the precision and eco-farming techniques reach the unreached, particularly women? We have a vast extension infrastructure, starting with those developed during the Community Development programme of the fifties and including those developed in the seventies and eighties with World Bank loans under then T & V (Training and visit) programme. Agricultural extension will have the desired impact only if the following pre-conditions are fulfilled.

• Availability of a significant yield gap between potential and actual yields.
  
• Continuous feed back relationships with the research system (during the sixties and seventies, I had initiated the National Demonstration, Lab to Land, whole village / watershed operational research and Krishi Vigyan Kendra programmes for this purpose).
  
• Synchronisation in time and space of information and knowledge delivery with the delivery of the inputs needed to apply that knowledge (like seeds of new varieties, rhizobium cultures, biopesticides, etc).
  
• Public policies in relation to input and output pricing and to providing opportunities for assured and remunerative marketing opportunities. An area of public policy which needs urgent attention is rendering proactive advice to farmers on how to adjust production with potential demand, both internal and external. Expenditure in connection with the strengthening of the national capacity for providing such proactive advice can be covered under the Blue Box payments or Green Box measures of the World Trade Agreement in agriculture.

The major measures needed are the following:

a. Re-structuring and re-tooling of the extension services

The existing extension staff need to be retrained in order to serve as Rural Knowledge Workers who can take new technologies to all farm families, irrespective of the size of holdings or level of literacy. Some suggestion for such restructuring are given in Fig.1.

Modern information and communication technology provides uncommon opportunities for developing a user-driven and user-controlled extension system. The information provided should be demand driven and should be relevant to time and specific farming systems. Re-training and re-deployment and not retrenchment should be the pathway for developing an extension system which is capable of stimulating an ever-green revolution in our farms.

b. Restructuring the State Land Use Boards

If the extension service is to help small farmers adopt land and water use patterns linked to marketing opportunities, there will be need to restructure and strengthen the State Land Use Boards. Some suggestions are given in Fig.2. If this is not done, our farmer's fate will increasingly become a gamble in the market. We have an excellent capacity in remote sensing, weather forecasting and information technology. Therefore, there should be no difficulty in achieving a proper match between markets and land use. The State Land Use Board should be headed by a leading professional.

Strengthening knowledge-intensive agriculture

The two new schemes introduced this year relating to Agri-Clinics and Agri-Business Centres. If implemented properly they should help to enhance the timely provision of scientific inputs to small farmers. The following are the activities which a group of farm graduates (both men and women) can initiate.

a. Agri-Clinics

The urgent needs are: area based pest-proofing using integrated pest management procedures, soil health and water management, estimation and correction of micro-nutrient deficiencies in the soil, animal health care, breeding and nutrition, eco-aquaculture and agro-forestry.

b. Agri-business Centres

The same Farm Graduates group which is operating agri-clinics or separate groups can organise agro-business centres. Such agri-business centres will be engaged in value addition to primary products (including plant animal biomass) and agro-processing. The composition of each group may be on the basis of complementary expertise. Such groups can also establish and operate Community Food, Fodder and Feed Banks.

A New Deal for the Self-employed

Central and State Governments should not expand official extension departments, if opportunities for remunerative self-employment are to become available to farm graduates. We need a new deal for the self-employed in terms of public policies which promote and not obstruct socially relevant enterprises. Private sector industry can help agricultural progress, particularly in the area of perishable commodities like fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish and animal products by undertaking contract cultivation and entering into buy-back arrangements. In their respective catchment areas, industry could provide a wide range of services, as is already being done by the tobacco and sugarcane industries. For example, non-availability of good and disease-free seeds is still a major constraint.

The reorganised, extension system should help to make our agriculture environmentally sustainable and globally competitive. This will be possible only if it becomes a farmer-centred and controlled system.

The Role of the Private Sector

The private sector has a particularly important role to play in bringing about a shift from unskilled to skilled work in agriculture and allied sectors. For this purpose, the following initiatives will be useful.

• Give concurrent attention to on-farm and non-farm employment and convert for this purpose
• Krishi Vigyan Kendras into Krishi-aur-Udyog Vigyan Kendras.
  
• Pay special attention to the technological and skill empowerment of women, particularly those belonging to landless labour families, so that they are able to take to higher value work like hybrid seed production.
  
• Set-up agro-industrial complexes near major cities for linking production, processing and marketing in the form of an integrated system.
  
• Set-up in major production centres computer-aided Market information system.
  
• Give management and marketing support to agri-clinics and agri-business centres.
  

Fig. 1
Restructuring and Retooling Extension Services for an Era of Precision Farming

All existing extension workers can be retrained to serve as Rural knowledge Workers under the control of Local Bodies

Fig. 2
Proactive Advice on Land use
(Land use decisions are also Water use decisions)

The Land Use through a virtual college should give proactive advice on the choice of crops and farming systems, so as to achieve a match between demand and supply in farm commodities and to ensure that the most efficient crops are grown in different agro-climatic agro-ecological regions.