Innovative extension methods, approaches, initiatives for effective outreach to farmers

2. Credit seminar
on
Innovative extension approaches in
India for effective outreach
Alok kumar Sahoo
Roll-20509
M.Sc 1st year
Division of Agri. Extension, ICAR-IARI, New Delhi

3. Extension and advisory services in
India: Current status
O Extension in today’s Indian context -public, private, PPP,
NGO and community based
O 60 percent of farmer households did not access any
information on modern technology that year (NSSO,2005)
O 59% of the farm households received no assistance from
either government or private extension services. (NSSO,
2014)
O of the 40.6% households who received extension
assistance, only 11% of the services came from physical
government machinery- extension agents, KVKs and
SAUs.
(NSSO, 2014)

4. 59%
11%
20% 19.6%
7.4%
Source of Information
1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 3rd Qtr 4th Qtr 5th Qtr
1st Qtr- Non-receiving
2nd Qtr- State
dept+KVK+SAUs
3rd Qtr- Progressive farmers
4th Qtr- Media
5th Qtr- Private commercial
agencies
(NSSO, 2014)

5. Spectrum of Extension and Advisory
Services

6. Public sector MAIN extension arm in
India
State Dept. of Ag
• Staff numbers low; weak research link; top-down, linear
• Perform non-extension duties & implement schemes
ICAR – Krishi Vigyan Kendra
• Present in all districts, multi-disciplinary team
• Linear; staff low; partnerships/linkage rare; local
coverage
ICAR –State Agricultural University
• Lab to land, frontline extension in few adopted villages
• Weak partnerships and links in ICAR and also with
Dept. of Ag

7. Private and voluntary sector initiatives
Input agencies (dealing with seeds, fertilizers, pesticides,
equipment),
Agri-business firms ( manufacture and sale of inputs and farm
produce
Farmer organisations and producer co-operatives,
NGOs
Media (print, radio and television) and web based knowledge
providers ,
Financial agencies involved in rural credit delivery
Consultancy services

8. Challenges of Public extension
O Public sector technology generation often fails to take into
account farmers’ needs, perceptions and location-specific
conditions for agricultural extension, leading to significant gaps
between the public sector institutions and farmers.(Sulaiman et
al)
O Research-extension farmer linkages are absent or weak
O Duplications of efforts among a multiplicity of agents attending to
extension work without adequate coordination.
O Difficulty in attributing impact
O High transaction costs and weak accountability to farmers
O In India extension workers to farmers ratio (1:5000) (Ragasa et
al., 2013),
O Multiple role of extension agency, no motivation for promotion

9. How to overcome
?
Need of the Hour
Alternate extension approach
OR
Innovative extension approach

10. Why do we need innovative
extension?
Changing demands on extension..
O better linking of farmers to input and output
markets
O reducing the vulnerability and enhancing the voice
of the rural poor
O development of micro-enterprises
O poverty reduction and environmental conservation
O strengthening and support of farmer organizations

11. From Extension to Extension-plus

12. From Extension to Extension-plus

13. Innovative extension
approaches
O NGO-Vrutti
O Charitable trust-Swami Samartha
O KVK-Kannur
O NDDB
O Farmers group: Whatsapp

14. (
O Enhancing people’s well being through knowledge, innovation and
transformative actions.
To bring about solutions at a scale that eliminate inequities
and marginalization, and create wealth for the
marginalized.
O To establish a center for excellence for livelihood promotion
& quality life of disadvantaged group
O Promoting livelihoods of communities with development
partners; towards developing effective strategies,
processes, support systems; through participatory action
research, management services and sector level support
Estb. In 2002 in MP under
SRA 1960 & FCRA,
GoI)

15. Various Roles
O Farmer's Producer Organization
O Agriculture Enterprise Facilitation Centre
O KNH Community Farm
O Adaptation to Climate Change in Rural Areas of India
O National Rural Livelihoods Mission
O Poverty Reduction Through Sustainable Agriculture
O Revitalization of Rain-fed Agriculture
O Small Grant Facility

16. Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) for last 4 years
O 45 FPOs - 25 under direct implementation
20 in partnership with other NGOs
O Building and Sustaining FPOs supported by SFAC, GoI.
and respective state govt. dept. of agriculture, NABARD,
DFID,UK, World Bank
To address the issues of investments, lack of markets, and
technology for small farmers.
O Ensure appropriate systems and support to ensure
compliance with statutory authorities, donors, banking and
internal governance systems
O Ensure access to and usage of quality inputs and services
and fair & remunerative markets including linking producer
groups to marketing opportunities by market aggregators.
Objectiv
e

17. O Facilitation of FPOs registration & documentation like -
TIN,VAT,PAN,APMC Mandi license, Fertilizer license,
Pesticide and seed licenses
O Strengthening farmer capacity through agricultural best
practices among pulse & vegetable farmers group in
Karnatak,AP,CG
O Integrated Action Research for Innovative Models
Meaningful Engagement for Enabling Policies
strateg
y

18. Agriculture Enterprise
Facilitation Center
O Agriculture is dealt with as a Social Enterprise for small
holders farmers.
O 70 to 90 % of the livelihoods from the agriculture in Tribal
villages in MP
O AEFC is revitalizing Agriculture Extension System,
especially in tribal areas where reach of agriculture
services and extension is extremely poor.
O Economic enterprise (beyond subsistence)
O AEFC's services were found necessary to develop a
viable method for improving status of production,
productivity and input efficiency in tribal areas
O Time bound information and linkage services

19. AEFC in MP & CG
O Objective-To raise the annual income of small and
marginal farmers to 50,000 per acre per annum.
O Strategy-Using various agriculture-based social
enterprise models to provide livelihoods for small-holder
farmers
Financed by
NABARD
World Bank
innovation
model
progressive
farmer led
agriculture
extension
system
modularized
and linked with
the AEFC(run
by farmers
groups)
Addressing Problems

20. TDF WADI
O Vrutti with 500 WADI tribal families in Hoshangabad ,MP
O Aims to provide sustainable livelihoods through orchard
based integrated farming systems (IFS) development
O Social participatory livelihood programs for economic
upliftment through sustainable agriculture, social
empowerment, improvement in quality of life including health
and women development, in tribal predominant area.
O Developing Tribal market through sensitization, training &
capacity building among them.
Under TDF Started by
NABARD from April
2012

21. O Project purpose is to develop a Community-led Resource
Centre for Integrated and Sustainable Farming in Coastal
Eco-System in Tamil Nadu.
O Community farm with organic agricultural practices which
have demonstration units and commercially viable
enterprises
O community outreach mobilization in the locality
O Objective- sustainable farming with employment
generation ; knowledge sensitization in the community
Sponshored by
Kindernothilfe
(KNH)
KNH Community Farm
Partnership
with CIKF &
SOFA

22. Revitalization of Rain-fed Agriculture
(RRA)
O RRA in Consortium between Centre for Indian
Knowledge System (CIKS) ,Chennai and Vrutti LRC
,Bangaluru
O 70% of the world's poor live in rural areas and are often
at the mercy of rainfall-based resources for income.
O India ranks first among the rain-fed agricultural
countries (200 million hectare-acres)
O To overcome various issues of discriminative policy
environment, low productivity, high cost of cultivation,
and gaps across all systems (soil, seeds, water etc.) ;
O RRA is a collaborative effort among State dept. Civil
society org.,SAUs,RIs, to demonstrate evidence based,
sustainable and scalable models that are appropriate to
rainfed farming systems, through a system based
approach

23. O Moving to the 2nd green revolution in the state and the purposes of
double the income of farmers in five years to introduce Krushi
Mahotsav -2005 in the Gujrat by the State Government as an
innovative approach in agriculture.
O During Krishi Mahotsav contact up to village level has been
established through a mobile exhibition called "Krishi Rath” that
visited every village.
O Advising and assisting individual farmer, distribution of free input kits
to resource poor farmers in has been made.
O Community based programs like water conservation
O Active involvement of NGOs, progressive farmers and cooperatives
and private institution

24. O Krushi Mahotsav held according to District panchayat seat
wise (Cluster base)
O The officers and Scientists of Agriculture visit in decided
villages of District panchayat by the medium of Krushi Rath
O Different programs Animal vaccination, Artificial insemination
as well as provided knowledge of Agriculture and its related
field.
O Benefits-Agriculture Scientists and officers are provided
guidance to farmers about Scientific farming, Organic farming,
Farm mechanization, Micro Irrigation, Crop Value addition
and Agriculture related information as well as provided
knowledge of Government Scheme.

25. O .

26. Krishi Mahotsav in Maharastra by Shree Swami
Samarth Agriculture & Research Charitable Trust Dindori
O Dindori Pranit SevaMarg from so many years through its
Agriculture Department solves various problems faced by
farmers, organic farming, conventional farming, livestock
management, self employment, advance farming and also
provide free guidance on personal problems faced by farmers
regarding the loans, alcohol addiction, suicide prone attitude etc.
O Agriculture experts provide direct free guidance to the farmers
by visiting their farmers, facilitating organic farming by
certification, business techniques in co-operation encouraged
with practical support.
O A laboratory setup at Dindori to examine the soil and water
contains for accurate knowledge of land quality and basic
information for cropping.

27. O Seed Banks, free moving cow shades, organic Bio gas plants are also
been setup here.
O An E-Library (free of cost) for technical information through audio
video techniques on computers, tablets, laptops.
O Seva Marg has also established India’s first food-grain brand
named “Dindori Pranit Righteous Food-grains” under which farmers
can sell their products directly to the consumers.
O This helps them to get good profit and also the consumer is
benefitted with quality food products.

28. Samarth Agro World Agricultural Exhibition
2013
O In order to make the farmers self-dependent and self-content, All India
Shree Swami Samarth Gurupeeth and Shree Swami Samarth
Agriculture Development and Research Charitable Trust organized
Shree Swami Samarth Yatra Utsav, Bhumi Pujan ceremony from
11th April to 13th April 2013.
O In this exhibition, farmers got immense information at free of cost
through various advance techniques in farming, Research and
development of herbs, group farming methods
O One Cow-One Family projects, zero-budget farming, free moving
cattle shades, technical knowledge etc.

32. Multidisciplinary actions strengthening
Extension: KVK Kannur
(Estd. In 2004 at the Pepper Research Station, Panniyur.)
 SHG to Micro processing unit by continuous motivation
 Refining Technologies (in Lab scale or Large scale)
 Incubation center for Branding product
 Linking entrepreneur to sources of support
 Hassle free credit through SBI-KVK loan Window
 KVK-mall to convey the message: “You Can” to entrepreneur
 Farmer’s Mall for linking entrepreneurs to market
 FRESH (Farming & Rural Employment for Social Harmony)
 Mini-Bioparks
 Dar.M.J. Joseph Farmers' Science Museum

35. Innovations in Agricultural Extension
by Kannur KVK
CAGA (Compact Area Group Approach )
 Developed and field tested – a new farmer participatory extension
approach
 CAGA promotes and sustains group action in a contiguous area for
durable adoption of technologies
 CAGA is included in the organic farming policy of government of
Kerala.
Creative Extension
 aimed at bringing about behavioral modification through message
transfer in art form such as songs, tele-film, video with songs
etc.

36. Farmers' Science Congress
 Farmer scientist innovations present before audience consisting
of a cross section of researchers, extensionists, farmers and
administrators
 The best of best farmer scientist was conferred with a
knighthood, ‘Dar’. Dar, like Sir, is a non-hereditary honorific
title conferred to the farmer scientist.
Paddy Task Force
 Fully disciplined professional team of paddy workers
 PTF with in-depth knowledge & skill in scientific mechanized
paddy production
 16 unemployed youth/farm women less than 45 age selected in
consultation with Local Self Govt.

37.  Field training on mechanized paddy cultivation in 5 hectares of
leased land
 Maintenance of farm machineries supplied by KVK staff with
ownership based on MoU with KVK.
 PTF was also trained on group dynamics and leadership to
enhance their self esteem and interpersonal competence.
 After the training this group was assisted to form a registered
society under Kerala Charitable Societies Act

38. Federation of Farmers' Clubs
 KVK, Kannur under KAU in partnership with NABARD
has brought together 80 farmers' clubs as a federation
with the objective of accelerating agricultural growth
through farmer-led research, extension, training,
processing and marketing
 A team of “KVK- led Expert Emeritus Faculty (KEEF)”,
who have the aptitude and willingness to work in
association with the KVK and the Farmers' Clubs is also
being constituted.
 The technology will flow from KVK to the four
directorates, KEEF , clubs and to other farmers of the
area through diverse extension channel

39.  KVK-led Emeritus Faculty-Farmers Club combination will
not only enable effective and wider technology
dissemination but also technology development and
application
 Facilitate to and fro flow between farmers and KVK
 Collective processing and collective marketing under
common brand name are also planned under the
federation

41. Latest ICT initiatives
O National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) launched a
mobile application (Pashu Poshan) that will recommend a
balanced diet for cows and buffaloes to help boost dairy
farmers' income by raising milk yield and cutting feed cost.
O Available on both web and android platforms, can be
accessed (inaph.nddb.coop).
O Farmer needs to provide complete animal profile, including
breed, age, milk production, fat content in milk.
O Already collected profiles of 6 lakh milch animals in 40,000
villages of recommended farmers
O This resulted in reducing the feed cost by Rs 5-15 per day
per animal and an average increase in milk production by
an average 300 ml per animal per day

43. WhatsApp group for farming solutions
O Punjab WhatsApp group ‘Young Innovative Farmers’,
was set up by Gurdaspur ADO Dr Amrik Singh on August
15 last year which includes young farmers and
agricultural experts.
O Receiving advices on crop health, seed procurement,
soil health, use of fertilizers and pesticides etc.
O Farmers upload photographs of their disease-hit crops to
seek expert advice.
O Crucial information timely
O Effort to create interest in the field of farming with young
farmers sharing good agricultural practices.

45. Strategy for future
O Stimulate diverse extension innovation that
responds adaptively to local evolving circumstances
O Recognizing value of innovations evolved locally
O Pilot testing and demonstration of success story
O Timely services, client centric, excellent quality in
competitive pricing for sustainability
O Market led extension
O Proper Knowledge database for future reference
O Pluralistic approaches in farmer centric

46. Conclusion
Strength-
O Optimisation of locally available resources
O Farmer’s innovation
O Farmers group approach
O Demand driven extension in micro level-
Location or person specific
O ICT enabled youth approach
O Value addition of locally available resources

47. Weakness-
O Resource constraints for alternative approach
O Shortage of trained skilled personnel
O Unaware and uninterested stakeholders as
farmers, staffs, public authority
O Inappropriate Govt. policy
O Non-availability of market locally
O Lack of confidence of consumer to product

48. Threat –
O Conflict may arise in group approach
O Overlapping of extension services to same
clients
O Change in policy
O Sustainability
O Macro level approach
O Leaving affiliation in between

49. Opportunity-
O Empowerment of farm women
O Capacity development of stakeholders linking to the
market
O Raise strong Voice in group approach in making
price policy
O Strong Network building for technology &
information sharing among stakeholders
O Micro level analysis and macro level implementation