Agricultural Technology Management Agency
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ATMA is a society of key stakeholders involved in agricultural activities for sustainable agriculture development in the district. It is a focal point for integrating Research and Extension activities and decentralizing day-to- day management of the public Agricultural Technology System (ATS). It is a registered society responsible for technology dissemination at the district level.
As a whole the ATMA would be a facilitating agency rather than implementing Agency. The funds allotted for ATMA includes Establishment of ATMA office at district headquarters, strengthening of line departments by providing infrastructural facilities, establishing FIACs
The ATMA will not encourage any practice or programme which, the line departments were already initiated. With the minimum budget, ATMA can introduce or demonstrate some of the programmes as innovative model, which can be replicated by farmers’ organizations. |
| The ATMA at district level would be increasingly responsible for all technology dissemination activities at the district level. It would have linkage with all the line departments, research organization, non-governmental organizations and agencies associated with agricultural development in the district. Research and Extension units with in the project district such as ZRS or substations, KVK and the key line departments of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Horticulture and Fisheries, Forestry etc. would become constituent members of ATMA. Each Research-Extension (R-E) unit would retain its institutional identity and affiliation but programme and procedures concerning district-wise R-E activities would be determined by ATMA Governing Board (GB) to be implemented by its Management Committee (AMC) |
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ATMA
GOVERNING BOARD (GB):
KEY FUNCTION OF ATMA GOVERNING BOARD : The key function of ATMA Governing Board would include the following functions and task: a. Review and approve strategic and annual work plans that are prepared and submitted by the participating unit. b. Receive and review annual reports carried out by the participating units, providing feedback and direction to the participating units, as needed, about the various research and extension activities being carried out within the district. c. Receive and allocate project funds to carry out priority research extension and related activities within the district. d. Foster the organization and development Farmers Interest Groups (FIGs) and Farmers Organization (FOs) within the district. e. Facilitate the greater involvement of private sector and firms and organization in providing inputs, technical supports, agro-processing and marketing service to farmers. f. Encourage agriculture lending institution to increase the availability of capital to resource poor and marginal farmers, especially SC and women farmers. g. Encourage each line department, plus the KVK and ZRS, to establish farmers advisory committee to provide feedback and input into their respective R-E programmes. h. Enter into contracts and agreements as appropriate to promote and support agricultural development activities within the district. i. Identify other source of financial support that would help ensure the financial sustainability of the ATMA and its participating unit. j. Establish revolving funds / accounts for each participating unit, and encourage each unit to make available technical services, such as artificial insemination or soil testing, on a cost recovery basis moving towards full cost recovery in a phased manner. k. Arrange for the periodic audit of ATMAs financial accounts ; and l. Adopt and amend the rules and by-lows for the ATMA.
KEY FUNCTION OF MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE : The functions and tasks to be carried out by the ATMA Management Committee would include the following : 1. Carry out periodic Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRSs) to identify the problems and constraints faced by different socio-economic groups and farmers within the district 2. Prepare an integrated, Strategic Research Extension Plan (SREP) for the district that would specify short and medium term adaptive research as well as technology validation and refinement and extension priorities for the district ; these priorities should reflect the importance farmers constraints identified during the PRA. 3. Prepare annual work plans that would be submitted to the ATMA Governing Board for review, possible modification and approval. 4. Maintain appropriate project accounts for submission to technology dissemination unit (TDU) for audit purpose. 5. Coordinate the execution of these annual work plans through participant line departments, ZRS, KVKs, NGOs, FIGs / FOs and allied institutions, including private sector firms. 6. Establish coordinating mechanisms at the block level, such as farmer advisory centres (FACs), that would integrate extension and technology transfer activities at the block and village levels and 7. Provide annual performance reports to the Governing Board outlining the various research, extension and related activities and related activities that were actually carried out, including targets achieved. 8. Provide secretariat to Governing Board and initiate action on policy direction, investment decisions and other guidance received from the board.
The
State Agricultural Extension Management and Training
Institutes (SAMETI) would be strengthened by way of
providing training material and equipments, communication
support, programme cost and salaries of selected incremental
faculty members and a few support staff. SAMETI are proposed
to be autonomous institute with greater flexibility in
structural and operational aspects. Role of SAMETI in NATP would be :
USING NGO's TO ORGANIZE FARMERS The GB of the ATMA would select utilise project funds to support on e or more NGOs to assist different types of farmers in becoming organised into different types of FOs within the district. These FOs may include both SHGs and FIGs at the village level and these village groups would, in turn, be encouraged to evolve into CAs credit societies marketing cooperatives and other types of FOs at the Block and District levels. Through these different FOs, farmers would be encourage to begin organizing different types of services for themselves, including input supply, credit and / or technical services and marketing arrangements activities that would increase productivity and incomes, while decreasing there dependence on government. FOs are already immerging among, commercial farmers in some parts of India, there fore, the goal would be to form village level SHGs and FIGs among small and marginal farmers, including women and other disadvantaged group, that would eventually evolve into FOs that would represent the interest of these more impoverished target groups. DEVELOPING NEW PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS Finally, ATMA units would be encouraged to enter into different types of partnerships, where the roles and responsibilities of both sets of institutions and organizations would be clearly defined. For example, ATMA might solicit and receive donated hybrid seed and other inputs from trials and demonstration. Since these inputs would be donated, the cost of conducting these trails and demonstration would be reduced. At the same time, farmers in different parts of the district could readily compare, during farmer field days, how different varieties, hybrid, or other inputs perform when grown or used side-by-side within a typical farmers field within their AEZ. In addition, as farming system within a district continue to intensify and diversify, the private sector may play an increasingly importance role in providing technical information about input use, or even setting up their own “contract extension” system for high value commodities that require a high degree of quality control. All of these emerging relationships would help increase the overall efficiency of the ATS. Annexure –4 illustrates the anticipated role and functions of different public and private units within a district ATS. Constitution
of Block Technology Team ( BTT) :
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| Name of the Society | The name of the Society is 'Agricultural Technology Management Agency', hereinafter called 'ATMA'. |
| Location of the Office | The Registered office of the ATMA should be located at District Collectorate. |
| Interpretation | The following expressions should have the following meaning unless inconsistent with subject or contest: a) 'Governing Board' should mean the body as constituted under these rules. b) The 'Chairman' should mean the Chairman of the Society referred to in the regulations. c) The 'Project Director' should mean the Project Director cum Treasure of the Society referred to in these Regulations. |
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Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) /Governing Board |
There
should be a Governing Board of the Society and its position
would be as mentioned below: 1) District Magistrate / Collector - Chairman 2) Chief Executive Officer / Chief Development Officer Vice - Chairman 3) Joint Director (Agriculture) / Deputy Director (Agriculture) of the District - Member 4) Representative of Zonal Research Station Krishi Vigayan Kendra - Member 5) Lead Bank Officer of the District - Member 6) One representative of District Industries Center (DIC) - Member 7) One representa-tive of Agricultural Marketing Board - Member 8) One farmer representative - Member 9) One livestock producer - Member 10) One horticulture farmer - Member 11) One representative from Fisheries / Sericul-ture farmer. - Member 12) One representative of Women Farmer Interest Group (FIG) - Member 13) One representative of SC / ST farmer - Member 14) One representative of NGO - Member 15) One representa-tive of Input Supplying Association - Member 16) Project Director, ATMA Member Secretary-cum Treasure (Ex-Officer ) - Member. |
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Appointment, Nomination and Tenure of Members |
a)
Non-official member of the Governing Board (G.B) will be
appointed for the period of two years by Agricultural
Production Commissioner / Secretary (Agriculture) of the
state on the recommendation of the Chairman of the Governing
Board. The member shall hold office for two years unless the
Governing board. The member shall hold office for two years
unless the authority which nominated / appointed /co-opted
them terminates their membership earlier. No non-official
member shall serve for more than two years. b)
If any of the non-official member nominated by the
Agriculture production Commissioner / Secretary
(Agriculture) fails to attend three consecutive meetings,
he/she shall cease to be a member of the Governing Board and
the Governing Board and the Governing Board shall appoint
another member in his/her place for the remaining part of
the two years period with the prior approval of the
Agricultural Production Commissioner / Secretary
(Agricultural). c)
If any non-official member nominated by Agricultural
Production Commissioner / Secretary Agricultural fails to
carry his/her duties properly or found interfering with the
day to day working of the agency the Governing Board may
terminate his / her term by a resolution and nominate
another member with the prior approval of Agricultural
Production Commissioner / Secretary (Agriculture). d)
Some initial appointments would be staggered to ensure that
about two thirds of the members would carry Over for an
additional year on the Governing Board. e)
Persons who sign the Memorandum of Association of the
society shall be the first members of the society duly
admitted. f)
Whenever a member desires to resign from the membership of
the society, he shall address his resignation to the
Chairman of the society (ATMA) and present it to him. His
resignation shall take effort only after the acceptance by
the Chairman of the Society. g)
When a person becomes or is appointed or is nominated as a
member of the society will terminate when he cease to hold
that office and the vacancy so caused shall be filled by his
successor to that office. h)
Any vacancy is the membership of the society either by
request or under article 5(g) of these regulations or
otherwise shall be filled by appointment or nomination or
cooperation by the Authority of institution entitled to do
so, as the case may be. i)
A member of the Society shall cease to be a member if he
becomes insolvent or of unsound mind or is convicted of a
criminal offense involving moral turpitude. j)
Each member of the society shall have one vote. k)
The Society further admit members subject to the approval of
the Technology Dissemination Manage-ment Committee (TDMC)
constitute in the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation,
Ministry of Agri-culture Government of India, New Delhi. l)
The Society shall maintain a roll of members at the
registered office and every member shall sign the roll and
state therein his occupation and address. m)
It shall be incumbent upon a member of the society to notify
to the project Director any change of his address. n) The Society shall enter into the registered of membership, the following particulars. (i) Name and address of each member. (ii) The date on which the member was admitted; and (iii) The date on which the member ceased to be a member. |
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Appointment of Officials |
a)
The Project Director would be appointed by the Agriculture
Production Commissioner / Secretary (Agriculture) of the
state in consultation with the Governing Board of ATMA. The
officer so considered and appointed should be suitably
senior so as to lead a multi-disciplinary team of perso-nnel
of the ATMA Management Committee and may be selected from
offices working within or outside the district and having
experience in extension / development work in agriculture
and allied fields. He would work on the project on full time
basis and will act as the member Secretary -cum Treasurer in
whom the execuitive authority of the Agency will vest.
Initially, the appointment shall be for one year subject to
the extension for two years each in two slots, the total
period not exceeding 5 years for an incumbent. b) The Chairman would then seek the concurrence of Cadre Controlling Authority for placing the services of selected officer on deputation with ATMA. |
| The Project Director of the Society on behalf of the Governing Board, with the approval of the Governing Board, shall perform the following function | I) To discharge day to day function of the society as per the objectives of the society; ii) To prepare and execute details plan and programme for the furtherance of the objective of the ATMA. iii) To process the appointments of such staff (other than those for whom the specific provision has been made elsewhere) as may be required for the efficient management of the affairs of the ATMA and to regulate the requirement and conditions of their services. iv) Such staff as mentioned at 7 (iii) above would be appointed by Chairman, Governing Board on the recommendation of project director, ATMA. ' v) To receive and have a custody of the funds of the ATMA and to manage the properties of the ATMA. vi) To execute contracts, collaboration, agreement containing arbitration clauses, indemnity bonds, deeds in respect of connected with sale /lease licenses, mortgage hypothecation or other deeds of legal character of whatever description, power of attorney, enforce any other legal rights and incur legal expense, provided that these powers are exercised for and on behalf of the ATMA. vii) Purchase, hire, take on lease, exchange or otherwise acquire a property movable or immovable or sale hire / lease exchange otherwise transfer or dispose of all or any property, movable or immovable of the ATMA provided that for the transfer of immovable property, the prior approval of the State Government is obtained in that behalf. viii) To accept the management of any endowment trust, fund subscription or donation, provided that it is not attended by any condition inconsistent or in conflict with the objectives of the ATMA. ix) To draw up the annual budget of the ATMA to be submitted for approval of the Governing Board. x) To scrutinize the Annual Report, Balance Sheet and Audited Accounts of the ATMA for consideration / approval of the Government Board. |
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A.
The aims and objectives for which the ATMA is formed are: 1.
To identify location specific needs of farming community for farming
system based agricultural development; 2.
To set up priorities for sustainable agricultural development with a
Farming Systems Approach; 3.
To draw plans for production based system activities to be undertaken by
farmers/ultimate users; 4.
To execute plans through line departments, training institutions, NGOs,
farmers organizations and allied institutions; 5.
To coordinate efforts being made by various line departments, NGOs,
farmers organizations and allied institutions to strengthen
research extension-farmers linkages in the district and to
promote collaboration and coordination between various State
funded technical departments; 6.
To facilitate the empowerment of farmers/producers through assistance for
mobilization, organization into associations, cooperatives
etc. for their increased participation in planning,
marketing, technology dissemination and agro-processing etc.
7.
To facilitate market interventions for value
addition to farm produce; B.
To attain these objective, the society may: 1.
Take steps to ensure that problems, constraints and needs to the farming
system based agriculture development are identified and
diagnosed periodically. 2.
Draw up plans for an integrated research-extension linkage approach for
farming systems based agriculture development. 3.
Ensure that line departments/institutions draw up integrated development
plan based upon resources available with them and
incremental/supplementary resources mobilized by the ATMA. 4.
Forge or develop systematic linkages between national/state/district
institutions of excellence in the field of agriculture and
marketing. 5.
Ensure capacity building of manpower engaged in overall agricultural
development and strengthen infrastructural support for the
benefit of the farmer/producer. 6.
Create suitable mechanism to ensure location specific adaptive,
indigenous knowledge based research. 7.
Ensure adequate linkages and frequent interaction between scientists,
extension functionaries and technicians & farmers, in
order to prepare an integrated plan to effectuate their
linkage, support each other, better understanding and
appreciation of their problems, means adopted to sort out
problems and plans etc., and to develop a mechanism of feed
back; 8.
Ensure capacity building of the ultimate users- the farmers in terms of
physical, financial and skill resources base by way of
adequate financial support channelised through credit
institutions, private investments and training for skill
upgradation. 9.
Facilitate farmers' organization to take lead role on mobilizing support
services and resources. 10.
Facilitate private investments for infrastructure development, private
institutions have to take lead in the delivery of goods and
services to ultimate users (farmers). 11.
Facilitate the processing and marketing activities of the agricultural,
livestock, dairy, poultry, silk and allied produce of the
farmers with the help of private sector institutions. 12.
Receive and expend project funds, maintain revolving accounts, enter into
contracts and agreements, receive donations and provide
services & deliver goods to beneficiaries. 13.
Accept grants of money, securities or property of any kind and undertake
and accept the management of any endowment, trust funds or
donations not inconsistent with the objectives of the ATMA,
on such terms and conditions as may be fitted with the
objectives of the ATMA and be prescribed by the Government
of India from time to time. 14. Generate resource in order to bring financial sustainability through charging for selected services rendered to beneficiaries by ATMA. 15. Create administrative, technical, ministerial and other posts in the ATMA and make appointments thereto in accordance with the rules and regulations of the State Government. 16. Make rules and bye-laws for the conduct of the affairs of the ATMA and add to amend vary or rescind them from time to time. 17. Do all such other lawful acts and things either alone or in conjunction with other organizations or persons as the ATMA may consider necessary, incidental or conductive to the attainment of the above objectives. 18. To do all such lawful acts and things whether incidental to objectives in force or not as may be requisite in order to furtherance of the objectives of the ATMA. 19. Sell, lease, exchange and otherwise transfer of any portion and the properties of the society (ATMA). 20.
Do all other such things as may be considered by the society (ATMA) and
may be incidental or conducive to the attainment of its
objectives. |
