1. EXTENSION REFORMS IN BIHAR:
AN EMERGING SUCCESS STORY
Dr.K.M.Singh,
Director, SAMETI, Bihar

3. Bihar At a Glance
Sl.
No.
Indicators State National
1. Share of Agriculture in GDP 39.0 24.3
2. Rural Population (%) 89.5 72.2
3. Work force participation rate
(%)
77.3 63.9
4. Population Density
(Persons/Sq. Km.)
880 324

4. CONSTRAINTS FACED BY BIHAR
 Low productivity of Crops in Bihar
 Low level of Input Use
 Low level of Consumption of Electricity (MKWH)
 Low level of Procurement of Foodgrains
 Low level of Credit disbursement to agricultural sector
 Areas having potential for further development:
 Tal Land : 1.00 Lakh hect.
 Diara Land : 11.00 Lakh hect.
 Chaur Land : 4.50 Lakh hect.
 Saline & Alkaline Land : 2.00 Lakh hect.
 Recurrent Droughts & Floods
 Poor Technology Transfer infrastructure

5. Government of Bihar’s commitment to
replicate ATMA in all districts in Bihar
To do this the major issues are:
Adopting farming system approach.
Marketing linkages for agricultural products.
Convergence between agriculture and other line
departments.
Bottom – up planning and including farmers in
devising the plans for their development.
 Assessment and promotion of new interventions
/ crops for benefit to farming community.
 Public – Private partnership in agriculture
extension.

6. Extension Reforms being
promoted by the Govt. of Bihar
Establishment of ATMAs in all the 38 districts of the
state :
 15 under the Centrally sponsored programme.
 23 under the State sponsored programme.
ATMA to the implementing agency for programmes
like NHM, Micro irrigation scheme, Watershed
development programme.
Department of Agriculture is being reorganized and
restructured under New Agricultural Policy for the
state, with emphasis on:
 Optimum utilization of existing resources,
 Demand driven, market led extension,
 Intensification with diversification strategies to
maximize the returns for the farming community.

7. Extension Reforms (contd.)
Under the new policy ATMAs are to play a very
important role for ensuring convergence of
different programmes within and outside the
Department of Agriculture.
A new innovative scheme to be implemented by
ATMAs in the state is “Kisan Sammaan Yojana”
under which the innovative farmers and
outstanding performers in the field of agriculture
would be rewarded every year. The ATMA
Governing Boards would receive the
nominations and recommend to the state govt.
for the award

8. Implementation of ATMA Prog.
ATMAs has been registered in:
In 4 districts namely, Madhubani, Munger, Muzaffarpur
and Patna under NATP
In 11 new districts namely Bhojpur, Gaya, Vaishali,
Saran, West Champaran, Saharsa, Purnea, Katihar,
Begusarai, Rohtas and Bhagalpur under the Centrally
sponsored “Support to State Programmes for Extension
Reforms”.
The SREPs of 11 new districts is complete and vetted
by MANAGE Facilitators.
The IDWG has approved the SEWP for 2006-07 on 17th
Jan 2007 and the work has started in right earnest in
cooperation with all line departments.

9. Implementation of ATMA Prog.
State has sanctioned new positions under ATMA
for the project period and also provided budgetary
support through plan funds under the scheme
“Support to State Extension Programmes for
Extension Reforms”.
The details are as follows:
 Project Director
 Deputy Project Director
 Accountant
 Computer Operator
 Steno-cum-Clerk
 Driver (only where govt. vehicles are available)
 Peon-cum-Chaukidar

10. Implementation of ATMA Prog.
All these positions are being filled through open
competition by advertising in the leading
newspapers.
PDs are being selected from the officers of the
govt. departments, SAU or from the pool of
retired but active scientists and officers.
The DPDs are being selected from the pool of
agricultural graduates trained by
MANAGE, Hyderabad under Govt. of
India, scheme of Agri-clinics & Agri-business.

11. World Bank attributes the success of ATMA Model
of agricultural development, to:
Autonomy, financial flexibility and direct funding.
 Better coordination, Convergence, pooling of resources and
integrated delivery of demand driven extension.
Priority settings through the farmers involvement (SREP , GB
and FIAC).
Strong Research-Extension-Farmer-Market (R-E-F-M) Linkage.
ATMA an effective platform for Public-Private-Partnership.
Strategic Research and Extension Plan has emerged as an
effective tool for bottom-up planning and Governmental
programmes are now being structured as per the research and
extension priorities emerging in the SREP
Capacity building through need-based trainings, exposure
visits, demonstrations, etc.
The report advocates greater financial support both from
central govt. in form of salaries and autonomy to the ATMAs in
their day to day functioning

12. Innovations in Bihar Agriculture
 Small Farmers‟ Agri-business Consortium (SFAC)
established in the state.
 Vegetable Federation formed with Rs. 3.53 Crores has been
sanction for the establishment of Vegetable Federation in the
State.
 Aromatic Plants and Medicinal Growers Federation formed.
 Horticulture Producers Federation formed in the state.
 Krishak Salahkaar Yojana being implemented in 8471
Panchayat of 38 district.
 Agriculture graduates/ progressive farmers preferred for
Salahkaar (Private Extension Workers).
 Fee to be charged by these Salahkaar for their services to
farmers.

13. Innovations in Bihar Agriculture
 SAMETI, Bihar identified as a nodal agency for Training
and Capacity Building of Departmental Officers, farmers
and other stakeholders and is being strengthened
appropriately.
 It is proposed to make DAESI programme mandatory for all
input dealers in a phased manner.
 Bihar is the 1st State in the country to establish ATMA in
every district of the state.
 Bihar is also the 1st state in India to create posts from its
own budget for the Xth Plan period under ATMA which is
likely to continue during the XIth Plan as well.
 In Bihar, ATMAs are being promoted as Single Window
delivery point for Technology and many schemes are now
being routed through ATMA, e.g. Micro Irrigation Scheme,
National Horticulture Mission and Kisan Samman Yojana.

14. Some other Innovative
Extension Activities in Bihar

15. Kisan Samman Yojana
Government of Bihar has sanctioned a new
scheme to felicitate the farmers of the State of
Bihar for their contribution to the development of
the state, the salient feature of the scheme are as
follows:
 Farmers of outstanding achievements in the field of
agriculture would be felicitated and honoured as:
 „Kisan Ratna‟ at the state level with a cash prize of Rs. 5 lakh
 „Kisan Bhushan‟ at district level with a cash prize of Rs.2 lakh
 Kisan Shree‟ at block level with a cash prize of Rs. 1 lakh
 Farmers will include those engaged in production, processing
and marketing in the field crops, fisheries, horticulture, and
animal husbandry.
 These farmers will not only be assessed for their individual
attainments, but also for their contribution in popularizing
modern agricultural technology to fellow farmers.

16. Kisan Samman Yojana
 These successful farmers would be engaged to work as
Private Extension Workers for various extension
programmes.
 Innovative methods would be employed and an objective
assessment will be done to identify these successful farmers
for Samman Yojana.
 ATMA will be the implementing agency for Kisan Samman
Yojana, therefore, ATMAs are being established in all the 38
districts of the state.
 Kisan Samman Yojana (KSY) will be advertised in the month
of April and the assessment period will cover all the three
crop seasons namely, Rabi, Kharif and Summer.
 The recipients of Kisan Samman would be announced on
the eve of Independence day every year by the Hon‟ble
Chief Minister of Bihar.
 The Kisan Ratna awardees would be nominated by the state
government for National level Padma awards

17. Establishment of Farmers Technical Training
School in Madhubani district, with support from
ATMA, Madhubani, Bihar
Process followed:
 Identification of success story farmers through PRA during
SREP preparation and afterwards.
 Capacity building of these farmer leaders through ATMA .
 Promoting formation of commodity and enterprise based
farmer groups (Farmer Interest Groups) through ATMA.
 Linking FIGs with ATMA, Research institutions, and other
stake holders.
 Arranging the exposure visit of FIG members
 Success story farmers used as Resource Persons by
ATMA.
 The farmers exposed to both print and electronic media
using ATMA platform.

18. Farmers Technical Training School
in Madhubani district
 The demands from Groups, for their own training facility,
established, owned, and operated by them.
 FIGs decide to set up such a training and experience sharing
facility with help from ATMA, Madhubani.
 They identified a partner NGO of ATMA, Madhubani which had
initial infrastructure and willingness to start such a venture .
 The promoter of this NGO Shri Paltan Azad, who is also a FIG
leader and GB Member, offered his premises and support for
setting up such facility,
 He allowed the use of his existing infrastructure (two rooms and
toilet etc.) in Madhepura village of Pandaul block in the district.
 The FIG leaders felt that the available infrastructure was
inadequate to conduct trainings when the number of participants is
large,
 They decided to construct a large enough hut, to house at least
50-75 people for training purposes.

19. Farmers Technical Training School in
Madhubani district
 Local FIG members donated bamboo; straw and other material to
build the Farmers very own School.
 They also supported with voluntary labour to get it erected.
 The faculty for this school “Kisan Takniki Prashikshan
Mahavidyalaya” (Farmer‟s Technical Training College) were
designated as “Farmer Professors”.
 Farmer Professors were selected from among FIG leaders trained
and exposed to new and diversified technologies, and who had an
interest in the concept.
 Now this infrastructure and Farmer Professors are used by ATMA in
its training programmes and an honorarium of Rs. 300/- per day is
paid to each of them for a lecture of 2 hrs if their services are used.
 Efforts are being made to conduct programmes under SGSY and
other central and state sponsored capacity building programmes, in
the premises of Farmer Technical Training School so that the KTPM
becomes sustainable in long run.
 The farmer Resource Persons have been designated as Farmer
Professors and presently the centre has a strength of 9 such
professors

20. THANK YOU