Abstracts of Papers on Private Extension

Extension services manned by Govt. Depts., are burdened with official paper work rendering accounts, for fulfilling targets are not realistic and ineffective. Innovative and enterprising extension workers feel frustrated due to political and other local influences. There is no accountability nor fixing of responsibility in the present system.

Hiring end firing of ineffective workers launched recently by the CHIEF MINISTER OF ANDHRA PRADESH is facing resistance from vested interests.

Extension for increasing productivity is not responsible for marketing and this results in farmers facing frustration.

Extension work has to be specific with specific targets at the grass level. It is suggested that PANCHAYAT RURAL EXTENSION work should be constituted at the Village level with a MANDAL LEVEL ADMINISTRATORs drawn from different Development departments on rotational system. The nationalized banks which make huge profits and grant loans should be involved in funding from their profits with funds from State, Panchayat, and corporate sectors.

Well defined responsibility for common works like water harvesting, soil conservation, tree planting, vermicomposting of garbage with performance targets and location and farmer specific activities will help to reorient the extension services at the grass root level.

Agricultural extension service is the transfer of farm technology to the farmers. This was the domain of the public sector all these years. Due to globalisation and liberalisation there is a change in the public extension approach wherein the private sector is involving itself in educating the farming community. Broadly private extension in Agriculture can be divided into these categories.

Small scale Agri-business industries face a real problem as they operate on budget crunch. They are in a catch 22 situation, wherein their product does not move if they do not have extra budget and they do not have that extra budget.

The present paper deals with different categories of private extensions and the challenges faced by small scale Agri-business Industries - A Personal Experience.

Privatisation of agricultural extension in India has got many favorable and unfavorable factors at the field level. Data available from the Farmer Participatory Research and Extension in two villages of Karnataka for the past five years through collaboration with many public and private institutions indicates to the following aspects.

Rapid technological advancements in the field of communication and information; liberalization and the resultant opening out of public research and educational institutes to part with the technologies through selling and Consultancy; changing cropping trend and emergence of contract farming forced by uncertain and volatile market situation; desperation and competition among farming community to raise good crop and earn more from smaller holdings; loss of credibility in the existing extension system; and inability of the public extension system in meeting the requirements of the huge client system, all stand favorably for Privatisation of agricultural extension.

The Privatisation efforts may also face hurdles in the form of certain unfavorable factors. Larger area under subsistence farming; need for location specific agricultural technologies within highly diverse production systems; women dominated agricultural work force with poor extension, social and media participation; and apprehension about the real intentions of the private system which may end up in giving contradictory messages and the messages aimed at quicker results neglecting the ecological considerations could hinder the rate of privatisation. However, the most difficult factor would be changing the mindset of farmers who are hither-to reached through public extension, free of cost.

The need for Agricultural extension was realised in fiftees itself. Extension services were provided through graduate extension offices at block level in Agriculture and Animal Husbandry drawn on deputation from respective state Departments. Trained Village level extension workers were posted in Villages to assist and render services for a group of villages. Most of the Farmers were illiterate with little knowledge of improved practices in Agriculture and allied activities. In those days, the daily Press and Radio are of very limited help to them.

Now there is marked change in the situation. Literacy increased. Daily News Papers reach even the interior villages. T.V sets are also used in Villages. E.T.V has allotted 30 minutes daily from 6.30 to 7.00 A.M for Farmers under Annadata Programme. Agricultural University of A.P. also makes use of this time twice a week to enlighten the Farmers.

In Andhra Pradesh, the Farmers monthly ANNADATA with a wide circulation of 2 lakhs every month is extensively read and is serving as a guide for the Farmers.

Now farming does not pay unless higher productivity of good quality is achieved at less cost. Farmers must be able to compete in the market. For export, they have to meet the requirements and satisfy the conditions laid down by the importing countries. They should compete with the developing and developed countries in prices and quality. Therefore they have to be judicious in selection of Crop, Variety, use of Inputs and Post harvest Technology etc. They need guidance from time to time.

There is marked deterioration in Government services. Most of the employees are unwilling to stay in rural areas to serve farmers. There is no encouragement for good workers. It is also difficult to dispense with the undesirable personnel in Government sector. Nearly 85% of the budget is spent on salaries and allowances. There is very little money to spare for purchase of equipment and undertake extension activities on a large scale.

It is inevitable for the Government to utilise private extension services on contract basis. They serve well competing with each other since they cannot survive unless they impress the clientele and achieve good results.

The Daily Press and agricultural Journals with a wider circulation in rural areas and T. V. will be able to play a vital role in extension activities in Rural Areas.

This case study narrates the rich extension experience of National Jamnalal Bajaj Awardee, 1997; Prof. S.S. Katagihallimath, for transfer of agricultural technology for rural development. He possess twenty-nine years of teaching, research and extension experience in agricultural colleges and state Department of Agriculture, Karnataka and also has been serving for more than 25 years as technical consultant in agriculture after retirement, since 1974. Academically he is an entomologist, his rich experience has made him to become an excellent agronomist, pathologist, efficient and effective extensionist. His areas of consultancy comprise of plant protection, multiple cropping, multistoried cropping, relay cropping and complete package of practices to all horticultural crops. Garden development is one of the important areas of his professional consultancy work. He claims that in and around Bangalore, so far he has provided guidance for developing nearly 1000 gardens. He is continuously serving as a technical consultant for individual farmers, many commercial firms, and agro-based industries. Presently, his area of operation includes Kolar and Bangalore (Rural & Urban) district of Karnataka State. Even after the age of 82 years, he is performing as a technical consultant successfully. He believes that ‘Extension work - not by words, it is through action’, which led him to successful technology transfer in rural area. He opined that technical competency and demonstrating ability of extension worker is important to convince the farmers. He has been a professional writer and an author of many scientific papers and popular articles. His commitment to the farming community is expressed by his approach of having started ‘Free Plant Clinic’ to the needy farmers since April, 2000. The full-length paper describes his professional growth and committed service, which will surely inspire and motivate many young scientists and extension workers to follow his ideals for the development of farming community.

Hiring end firing of ineffective workers launched recently by the CHIEF MINISTER OF ANDHRA PRADESH is facing resistance from vested interests.

Extension for increasing productivity is not responsible for marketing and this results in farmers facing frustration.

Commercialization of agriculture demands timely and technically sound advisory services with market oriented information. This situation paved way for emergence of private agricultural consultancies. Two registered agricultural consultancy agencies in Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu were selected and studied during March 1999. PAN HORTI CONSULTANTS (P) LTD., started in 1997 by a voluntarily retired Professor of Horticulture. The consultancy had well organized staffing pattern and appreciable enrollment for the staff. Consultancy was established on the lines of national and international network system. The prime subject matter area for consultancy included hi-tech horticulture. The clients consisted of 40 commercial firms, industrial establishments, agro-based industries and also 12 big farmers. The technical advisory services were provided by multi disciplinary subject matter specialist team. Another consultancy agency, VIJI-HI-TECH: Agri-Horti Liaison project, was started in 1998 by a retired Entomology professor. Advisory services are being provided by a single technical person covering in and around area of Coimbatore district. This agency mainly provides guidance on project formulation for clients to get financial assistance from the nationalized Banks. Both the consultancy agencies, expressed that farmers are not approaching for consultancy services, but however, they opined that their consultancy agencies have appreciation of the services rendered to their clients representing commercial firms, agro-based industries and entrepreneur farmers.

Participatory approach in technology transfer has been widely accepted as an important extension strategy in Kerala in the pretext of increased number of the small and marginal farmers. This has become more evident with the implementation of democratic decentralisation of the development process under various rural sectors.

Formation of Self Help Groups(SHGs), empowerment of its members and making them sustainable are being taken up as strategic interventions by governmental organizations and non-government organizations. In several cases, these SHGs are encouraged to be the "information demand groups" and we use the information technology to enhance the production process in agriculture and allied sectors and even in organising marketing networks.

A study was conducted in the Dept. of Agrl. Extension, Kerala Agricultural University on the effectiveness of change agencies under government as well as NGOs in the formation of SHGs. One SHG organised by the Community Development Society (CDS) under the State Department of Rural Development and one SHG organised by Evangelical Social Action Forum(ESAF), a non-governmental organisation both from Thrissur District were selected as the respondent groups.

The change agency characteristics such as credibility, homophily, change agency orientation, change agency effort, compatibility client needs and empathy were subjected to perceptual ratings by the members of SHGs of both streams (the data of results of which are provided in the full paper).

It was observed that the SHGs organised by the NGOs rated their change agents on higher ranks than the members of the government sponsored SHGs. This was the case with all the six change agency characteristics which implies that the efforts of the NGOs were rated high by the client system.

The responses by all the members of the SHG under NGO unanimously indicated high credibility of the change agency, strongly agreeable change agency orientation, very high regard about the change agency efforts and very high degree of change agency empathy. The findings of this study underscored the efficiency of the change agency under the extension services of an NGO compared to a government organisation.

Among the non-governmental extension services, the mass media, particularly the newspapers play a vital role in transfer of technology in a community which ranks high in literary standards. Realising this potential, 18 Malayalam dailies publish regular agricultural columns once in every week, extending from half a page to full page. Field level empirical analyses have proved that there are regular readers for these columns, who utilise the pages for reading or even for preservation for future reference. Evidences are available on the impact of the printed messages to bring out desirable changes in the cognitive and affective domains of the farmer readers.

The Malayalam dailies carry articles on technologies in agriculture and allied sectors, contributed by the experts in the Agricultural University, Central Research Institutes, State Department of Agriculture and experts in NGOs. Though the readership needs and the impact have been established well, the coverage of subject matter is found to be many times imbalanced when the share of each sector in the state’s economy is taken into consideration. It is also found during the past one decade that the contribution of articles from the change agencies of different sectors is not enough to meet the regular requirement, leading to the disproportionate coverage.

The farm columns of the dailies have been subjected to content analysis with respect to subject matter areas, news of illustrations and news of different formats. The illustration make the printed messages very clear and direct, in addition to making the layout of the page impressive. However, a number of inadequacies have been identified in the use of illustrations in the farm pages of most of the leading Malayalam dailies.

The format analysis identified five major formats as frequently appearing in these dailies. Feature story, narrating detailed information of the technological options is found to take more space, but the editing without technical expertise have been quite often distorting the intended messages. The process article (how-to-do type) gives the recommendations directly narrating the procedure to be followed, which often has timely relevance and wider reception among the readers. The experience stories, either of success or of failure, have increased human element but demands professional skills by the contributor. The question-answer columns and the ‘tips and bits’ are the other common formats appearing in the farm pages.

The research projects to analyse the audience-response on various formats indicated that experience stories were the most preferred ones in creating attitudinal changes. However, the process story followed by information feature were contributing more to enhancement of awareness knowledge, principles knowledge and the knowledge of procedures. AU the studies carried out by the Department of Agricultural Extension under Kerala Agricultural University have established the relevance of these farm columns in technology transfer, serving a significant complementary role to the institutional extension services in the agrarian sector. Inspite of the increasing influence of the electronic channels, the printed word continues to influence the client in the innovation – decision process.

Agricultural extension to transfer the farm technology, over the years, spectacular changes have taken place structurally and functionally across the globe. To meet the current challenges in farming, privatization of agricultural extension is proposed as alternative or complementary approach to public extension system. This review article examines concepts of privatization of agricultural extension service, reasons behind the trend towards proposing privatization of extension such as; financial crisis of government, disappointing public extension service and commercialization of agriculture. Assumptions such as; private extension generates new income, provides demand-driven, cost-effective, quality service, increases voice of farmers, complement the public extension efforts, provide high client accountable service and ensures high degree of farmers commitment to the service. This review article provides theoretical insight to the privatization idea.

The Doon Valley Integrated Watershed Management Project had a built-in design to work through village institutions created under the project. Success of the project depends on the peoples involvement in these village institutions meant to create a new confidence among villagers for team work and group mobilization. So the institutional involvement of the villagers was studied through a series of open ended questions, the responses of which were content analyzed. This study revealed that medium to long-term concerns. mutual faith among the villagers, conflict resolution through community agreement and consensus, socially accepted norms creation, maintaining functional continuity of village institutions, and resort to community action for further maintenance of community assets were crucial factors for greater people’s involvement and participation in village institutions. This paper highlights the software and behavioural aspects of the rural people involved in conserving and managing the natural resources in Doon valley. Ignoring these crucial issues retard the people’s participation and create obstacles in sustainable development. Lessons learnt through case studies during field investigation are also presented in the paper.

The advances made by the Information technology during the current century and its continuous impact more specifically on Indian Agriculture call for a renewed thinking on the multiplicity of farming production, research and extension systems. Number of Agricultural revolutions made the Indian Agriculture subsistent and sustainable but not self-sufficient. The plateau in the production levels and the yawning difference between research data and the ground truth with the farmers indicate that the Extension systems require further fine tuning to decrease the gap between production and research inferences. The backbone of all future extension endeavours will be to transform the Agriculture from subsistence level to the commercial operations.

A controversial argument from the public extension systems to private either as a substitution or complimenting each other provoke the authors to study the World extension systems and borrow experiences for conceptualizing the privatization of Extension system. With the limitations of budget allotments of meager 4 % of the total allocations to the public extension, privatization of extension system will reduce the investment capital coupled with efficiency in operations. The borrowed inferences from World agriculture may not drive to replace the public extension system but provide complimenting role model for strengthening the existing public counter part.

A study hence is taken from the extension system operating in 11 countries and the experiences catalogued and extrapolated for the roles to be played by the country’s extension machinery.

Sevasagar, a non-profit voluntary organisation started during 1989 is rendering service to over 4500 farm families in Bangalore South Taluk of Bangalore Rural district in Karnataka state. It is disseminating latest agricultural technologies to farm families. Yearly once, about 100 farm youth (15 to 30 years old) are trained for one day during monsoon season on improved cultivation practices of rainfed ragi. The present study was conducted to assess the impact of training on the knowledge level of farm youth regarding the recommended cultivation practices of rainfed ragi (Variety - India 5) in relation to their selected characteristics, and also to compare the adequacy of topics covered and the usefulness of the topics covered in the training programme. The present study has made use of Before-After Design, with Single Group
(i.e. No. Control Group). A pre-structured schedule was prepared in consultation with the Subject Matter Specialists, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore and the same was translated into Kannada language. The data were collected at two phases i.e. before training and after training.

The results revealed a significant gain in the knowledge level of the different categories (age, education, land holdings and caste) of trainees on recommended cultivation practices of rainfed ragi. The Spearman rank correlation co-efficient value indicated a significant difference between the adequacy of topics covered and the usefulness of the topics covered as perceived by the trained farm youth. The inference that could be drawn is that coverage of topics was different in relation to the extent of usefulness. The findings calls for conducting a ‘Need Assessed Survey’ before and during the training programme.

Recently, National Agricultural Research and Extension Services have suffered from declining resources. It is of unanimous opinion that extension must respond to the needs of society and should also be productive and responsive. It has become a debatable issue between those who advocate top-down (supply-driven) and those who propound bottom-up (demand-driven) services. The increasing inability of the governments to adequately fund its extension machinery is the real force behind the search for alternative approaches such as ‘cost sharing’ and ‘privatization’. India has the largest extension system in the world with 1,17,603 paid agricultural extension personnel catering tot he farming and allied needs of over 90 million farm families.

Speaking the Indian context, stress on two crucial issues need to be considered. Firstly, the ability of the farmers to pay for the extension services and secondly, how to demarcate the benefits of extension as ‘private and public’.

Agricultural development in India for the item being attained a stage where more reliance has to be emphasized on rainfed / dryland areas for national food security, correction of nutritional and regional imbalances and generation of widespread rural employment opportunities in hinterlands. Besides these, the factors, approaches, advantages and disadvantages of Agricultural Extension Service in India were discussed.

The implications of these approaches based on the international experiences are also outlines. Now the item is not ripe in India for total substitution of public extension system by private agencies. Hence a judicious blend of public, private, voluntary cooperative and participatory extension efforts are presently advisable for our country during the 21^st century. Presently, the scope of privatized extension services in our country may be observed in the areas dominated by plantation crops / irrigated areas.

Many consumers lack confidence in British farming, many consumers question just how safe their food is. Debates over Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO’s) also increase their concern. Food safety is not the only facto undermining consumer confidence in farming; more and more people condemn "factory farming" as inhumane to animals and as an environmental polluter. Those most concerned with consumer worries are, of course, the farming themselves. But theses farmers, in their turn, have become dependent on policy and market incentives that favour conventional production. Too many uncertainties surround future agricultural policies to change these farming systems. Farmers do not know what environmental standards will be imposed. They do not know what incentives the new Common Agricultural Policy on environment and social payments will provide. However, one incentive for change comes from the rise in consumer demand for organic foods. The UK organic market rose by 30% between 1996 and 1997 to a retail value of some two hundred and fifty million pounds. A trend that many predict will continue well into next century.

What concern policy makers and marketers alike is that 70% of the fruits and vegetables that comprise the UK organic market are imported., when they could be grown locally. Getting more farmers to produce organic vegetables is the goal behind Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food (MAFF) and Elgro, a marketing cooperative funding of a research project on "Conversion to Organic Field Vegetable Production". The project leaders, Henry Doubleday Research Association (HDRA), along with their partners the Horticultural Research International (HRI), Elm Farm Research Center (EFRC) and the University of Wales, believe that British farmers are reluctant to convert to organic performance of production system during the conversion process. As the project was still in its early stage, HDRA were interested in a system analysis.

International Center for development oriented Research in Agriculture (ICRA), The Netherlands and twenty one participants of its 1988 course in Development Oriented Research in Agriculture (DORA) conducted their analysis between 1^st and 7^th March. Various stakeholders from HDRA, research organizations, university, private extension agencies like Agricultural Development and Advisory Services (ADAS), Organic Advisory Services (OAS) and other organizations like UK research on fertilizers and soils (KROFS) and Horticultural Development Council (HDC) were interviewed. The data collected, concluded and analyzed as per procedures of DORA.

Private Extension is emerging as an alternative to Public Extension to bridge the adoption gaps in agricultural technologies. Private extension is making efficient use of mass media like Radio, television, computer network for reaching farming community. In this paper, it is discussed the trends in usage of mass media to its fullest advantage by some committed Non Governmental Organizations in Andhra Pradesh.

It has been widely accepted now that participation of farmers is imperative in the management of irrigation. The National Water Policy (1987) also stresses on the progressive participation of farmers in the management of irrigation.

The present study tried to study the farmers participation in planning, implementation & management of irrigation system. It revealed the constraints and suggests measures for effective implementation of Participatory Irrigation Management.

The present study is based on an empirical study of 23 Water User Associations spread over 31 villages in nine districts of Haryana. These WUAs were formed by Command Area Development Agency (13) & Haryana State Minor Irrigation & Tubewell Corporation (10). The sample of the study consisted of 21 functional and 2 non-functional WUAs.

The data were collected through Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) method from members of WUAs, executives of Associations, few Influential people of the village. About 15-20 farmers from each WUA area were interviewed individually & in group with the help of checklist prepared for the purpose.

The findings of the study reveal that scarcity of water was the main motivation behind the formation of Association. The shareholders were involved in selection of site. They were involved in monitoring the lining works. There was no dispute as far concern of distribution of water. They were getting water as per Warabandi. The shareholders were cleaning the slit & vegetation from the water courses. Some Associations made even a provision of fine. The water use efficiency has been increased due to pucca field channels in most the cases. The agriculture production has also increased. However there was no women participation. The Associations has no linkage with the village Panchayat. The existence of formal organization of shareholders i.e. WUAs played crucial role in enlisting peoples participation in irrigation management. The facilitative role of Government and NGOs is also important for enlisting peoples participation.

In many people's minds extension and government are indissolubly linked.Yet elements of privatisation and diversification in supply of extension services have been witnessed throughout the world over the past two decades. Active encouragement of non-governmental participants

is most effective when the government is willing to retain responsibility for a large part of the cost of the service, atleast while the new providers are getting established.Extension services are still plagued with many problems in many countries and the extent to which the poor might have benefited should not be over-stated Reforms within large public sector extension services takes a long time and requires constant efforts by those with vision and the leverage to stimulate change. Hence, the underlying need for privatisation. An attempt has been made to analyse the Strengths,Weaknesses,Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) of private extension. This analysis recognises the need to take an appropriate approach towards extension services to achieve twin global goals of food security and sustainable food production.

Food, shelter and safe drinking water are the basic needs of life for all of mankind. Even after the close of the 20^th century the Third World is reeling under the problem of food insecurity. Added to this is the lack of education and health-care facilities for children. Though the Constitution of India enshrines a spectrum of directives for its citizens the position has not much improved even after 52 years of independence. Freedom from hunger, which means stability of food production and its distribution to all people, particularly of the backward classes, for whom nutrition has to be assured round the year, is still a far cry. The international Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has projected that in the developing countries the "food-gap" (the difference between demand and production could more than double in the next 25 years. Even now many people of these countries are not be able o buy sufficient food to fully met their needs.

Women here are the mainstay of agricultural operations and provide most of the labour for farming, from soil preparation to harvesting, yet they do not have title to land. Women in rural areas generally bear primary responsibility for the nutrition of their children, from gestation through weaning and the critical period of growth. In addition they are the principal food producers and prepare food for the rest of the family. But their contribution is poorly understood and often under estimated. Women also play a vital role in crop storage, food preservation, conservation of traditional varieties of seed and medicinal plants. None of these have received due recognition. Traditional approaches to food security and sustainable agriculture both by the government and other agencies have laid little emphasis on this aspect, which thus needs redress.

Women constitute a large section of the work force in agriculture particularly among the tribals, dalits and other indigenous communities. It is therefore desirable to help them to upgrade their skills, and provide them support to innovate in their changed circumstances based on the learning experiences of other like them both in India and elsewhere in the world. However, in spite of the key role of women in agriculture and their pivotal role in ensuring the food security of their families, the level and quality of participation of women in development projects vis-�-vis agriculture and food security, leaves much to be desired. Accordingly in a programme for ensuring food security the policy has to be "gender friendly". It is with this presumption that development efforts towards Food Security are much more likely to achieve tangible and lasting results if focussed on the participation and empowerment of women that the project proposal has the same as its main thrust.

Though the focus should be o Women’s Groups, efforts will be made also t collaborate with local NGOs and panchayats (local government) I supporting them and securing a lasting role for them in their communities.

Private Extension service provides enormous employment opportunities to educated, unemployed and underemployed youths. Field level experiences showed that the bottom most extension functionaries in the field of Animal Husbandry i.e. the lay inseminators with their close proximity, trustworthiness, relaxed/friendly approach and expertise in their own social system proved to be a effective motivators, consultants, advisors and extension practitioners in the existing farming system. The vocational training programmes are organised by KVK for the benefit of unemployed rural youth to provide self-employment opportunities for eradicating poverty in the rural areas. The trained manpower called lay inseminators to provide Veterinary first aid and artificial insemination services to the farm animals of the farm families. On an average 70-75 youths are trained in a year at KVK, NDRI, Karnal. After the completion of training programme they were able to start Lay Insemination Centres with the help of village Panchayat at their own village. Except Land, for the construction of Lay Insemination Centres, other funding and delivery of Extension services to the farm families are single handedly carried out by the Lay Inseminators by charging their extension services. Due to their closeness, belong to the same village, their approach, efforts and extension services are very significant. The Lay Insemination getting technical guidance from their immediate seniors and other functionaries of state Animal Husbandry Department, SAU's and ICAR Institutes. If the technically trained manpower assessed periodically and provided with skill based advance training programme, the Extension service can be further strengthened. Being Extension practitioners, consultants, feed back gatherers and experts among the farming community, the lay inseminators can be exploited by providing enough technical guidance by which the conflict between farmers' specific and immediate needs verses policy goals; inefficient face-to-face contact between farmers and experts of extension service can be avoided. The Lay Insemination acts as a catalyst between the farming system and Extension System. To meet the challenges of the new millennium, they can be utilized for a most productive extension services.

Diverse agricultural extension funding and delivery arrangements have been undertaken since the mid 1980s by governments worldwide in the name of privatization. The wave of privatization has emerged governments of alt sociopolitical ideologists and nations at all stages of development. From United Kingdom to the Peoples’ Republic of China, Governments throughout the world are trying to meet the challenges of costly government programmes, bureaucratic inefficiencies and economic stagnation by turning to the private sector for help and assistance. Yawning deficit in the budgetary resources, increasing burden on the economy and poor performance of the public sector have necessitated privatization of agricultural extension

Agricultural extension programmes are carried out using various approaches based on objectives, source of funds and the type of organization responsible for organizing activities. In the developing countries, public sector institutions are carrying out more than 90 per cent of the extension work. In the developed countries also extension was initially carried out by the public sector, but it is steadily shifting towards privatization. This trend is a consequence of the privatization technology and the loss of public support for extension during a period of agricultural surpluses and expensive farm subsidies. Due to the increasing inability of the governments to adequately fund its extension machinery, it is necessary to change the roles of public sector in agricultural extension. More emphasis is required in cost sharing approach and privatization, involving the farmers associations, NGOs and farm women club.

A number of schemes and programmes have been designed over the years by Govt. of Karnataka for the benefit of backward classes. The Karnataka Backward Classes Development Corporation (KBCDC) Ltd., has been highly instrumental in formulating and implementing many of these schemes and programmes. The KBCDC in a joint venture with National Backward Classes Finance Development Corporation (NBCFDC) Ltd. devised a scheme intending to promote a dairy development activities among the backward classes in Karnataka, so as to motivate these classes to build up their Socio-economic levels of living through dairying. The scheme was designed in consultation with Karnataka Cooperative Milk Producers Federation (KMF) and District Cooperative milk producers union Ltd. (Union). A memorandum of understanding (MOU) has been developed between KBCDC, KMF and Union regarding implementation of the scheme. The role of extension personnel is more important in identification of beneficiaries, facilitating credit facilities, providing technical guidance and maintenance of dairy cows and fodder land. etc. This scheme is first of its kind in the country and would benefit landless labourers, small and marginal farmers and unemployed youth belonging to the vulnerable families of backward classes in Karnataka. In terms of its mechanism and progressive utilization, the scheme is highly specific and the possibility of extending it to some parts of other country depends upon its performance. It is in the light of this background the need for the study has been felt with a purpose to understand, analyze and find out the ways in which the scheme could function or prove to be more useful. The study was conducted in three districts of Karnataka during 1997-98. The study revealed that, the agriculture as main occupation declined from 80 to 60%. It also revealed that the total income of the beneficiaries raised to 52% by dairying alone.

Private organisations are playing a major role in India as well as all over the world in agricultural extension and rural development. However, Rural development in India is a complex process. Further, Rural development for many years to come will be primarily agricultural development, because 80 % of Rural Development in India is agricultural development alone. In recent days the traditional agriculture is getting transformed into modem commercial enterprise. This has created unprecedent upsurge in the demand for accurate scientific information by certain sections of framers, while other resource poor small farmers are lagging behind. However, public extension system at the cost of Government mainly focus on motivation and persuasion of rural people to adopt recommended beneficial practices for rural development. The resource poor small farmers development with in the vertex of overall rural development is an extremely complex process. According to an estimate during this new millennium out of 100 million operational holdings 90 million are small holdings. Further, 70 % of net sown area in the country comes under Rainfed agriculture. There is no doubt that a privatized extension system will be more effective than the existing public extension system. But the question is resource poor small farmers in villages can afford to pay up for the services they receive. Many resource poor small farmers surely cannot afford with "pay to improve for growth and development" policy. The time has not yet come in India for complete withdrawal of public extension system in certain areas of the country. Hence, a dynamic strategy is urgently needed with appropriate POSDCORB (Planning, Organising, Staffing, Directing, Coordinating, Reporting and Budgeting) to integrate public and private extension system for Rural Development in India. This is a challenge that needs to be tackled immediately.

Globalization and liberalization measures thrown opportunities and challenges to export oriented agro-enterprises. To make the best use of available opportunities, Agricultural Consultancy Services (ACS) from Canara Bank, Bangalore, started in 1988 with the Prime objective to offer consultancy services in agriculture and allied activities, food processing, agro-industries and non-farm sector projects. Individual clients, institutions, food processing and agro-based industries are the main clients availing services from ACS. ACS had fixed pattern of service tariff for project formulation, project-appraisal and feasibility report. More than a decade of agriculture service, around 375 projects has been completed with the net earnings of Rs.180.88 lakhs.

This paper has been prepared with careful analysis of the past experiences in the transfer of technology process in India, that has taken place from 1920s to 2000. The analysis shows that spectacular changes, both structurally and functionally had been taking place over the last several decades. The details has not been brought out here to avoid repetition. It is observed that all these efforts were mainly, formally planned and implemented by public extension system. Of late, due to rapid information technology development system (instant communication), how far the public extension system is going to meet the real challenges in the transfer of technology process. Further, in order to shift the nature of agriculture from subsistence to profit oriented and also ensure accountability with quality extension service, this paper suggests three such models such as Government; Government & Private; Government, Private and Farmers, for deliberation and recommendation.

Linkage among the various sub-systems of agriculture is synchonon for the sustainability of agriculture and also for the existence of the concerned sub-system itself. The term ‘link’ refers to connection between people or things. The term linkage refers to the way or the manner in which people or things are linked with each other. In seminars and conferences, only two level linkage is discussed. If the agriculture is to prosper there should be linkage among the various sub-systems of agriculture viz., research, extension, education, input supply, users, sellers, consumers and processing agencies.

Absence of linkage of any sub-system with any other sub-system leads to isolation which in turn, leads to low production. The isolated system also gets the criticism not meeting the needs of the society. A sub-system having no linkage with the any other sub-system will be in jeopardy for it’s own survival itself. Linkage with the form the other system by linkage. There are studies which have indicated no-existence of the linkage among the various sub-systems. There are 4 types of linkages that are essential for agricultural prosperity viz. Enabling linkages, functional linkages, normative linkages and diffused linkages. There should also be internal linkages within a sub-system itself. Lack of linkage among the various sub-systems is due to negative attitude of the various sub-systems towards other sub-systems, lack of perception, lack of funding for money, for transport, travel, support, the nature of the job of certain sub-systems and frequent transfer policy being operated in some of the sub-systems. There are ways and means of increasing the linkage by having right perception of the various system members about other sub-systems treatment of technological findings before transferring to other sub-systems, training and incentives for the extension staff, doing research only on field-based problems, provision for informal, direct and person to person communication among the various sub-systems, proper research climate in the concerned sub-system, implementation of policy and approval of research, extension and teaching and training proposals only when they are based on field problems identified. If these are sincerely followed by all the sub-systems definitely, there will be better linkage among the various sub-systems which will ultimately lead to increased agricultural productivity.

The Government of Kerala started "Kurumulaku Samrakshana Samities" (as Non Governmental Organization) to solve the multidimensional problems of Black pepper growers in Kerala state, since government alone can to solve all the problems of pepper growers, Samities are functioning in each Krishibhavans’ jurisdiction. The objectives of samiti are renovation of disease affected pepper gardens with quality planing material, adoption of scientific management practices, minimizing cost production and take up the technical programmes directed by the state department of agriculture. These samities are functioning since 1990-91, but the dissemination of technology and adoption of package of practices by the pepper growers has not been studied.

Keeping the above points in view a study has been conducted to find out the adoption pattern, linkages, supply and service activities of samiti, training needs of farmers and training strategy perceived by the pepper growers. The study was conducted in Wynad, Calicut and Cannanore districts of Kerala. A sample of 120 farmers were selected at random from 9 villages (3 villages from each district).

Results revealed that perception of pepper growers about samiti functioning is satisfactory. Majority of the farmers are adopting the recommended practices of pepper cultivation in the following order viz. Right stage of harvesting, correct inter / mixed cropping, processing of pepper and improved varieties etc. Data revealed that samities has got good linkages with Krishibhavans, Cooperative banks, Voluntary organizations etc. to get technical information and inputs. Results indicated that farmers are not happy with inputs supply. Supplies also not given in enough quantities in right time. They have indicated the following subject matter areas as training needs viz. Plan protection measures, nursery management, fertilizer application, cultural practices, low cost pepper production technology and processing of pepper.

They perceived that they need training before rainy season i.e. either in March/April. They indicated to have training at their own village or at Krishibhavan for 2-3 days duration.

Results indicated that follow up/monitoring activities has not been done in samiti activities, hence it should be initiated. Further they felt to have area collection centres to solve their marketing problem. These centres will help to avoid middle men and fetch good market price for their produce. Above measures will definitely help in strengthening the samities to get higher pepper production which leads farmers to have good economic growth.

Private vegetable seed industry are major partners to boost agricultural production with production of hybrid, open pollinated seeds. They concentrate on market needs rather farmer’s needs. Competition is unhealthy with companies slicing away each other’s market share. Own research institutions do basic research or released varieties from the various ICAR/SAU’s are purchased and mass-produced. They are marketed to various locations. Results of NARP trials have proved that private seed industries are highly competitive. Their varieties have performed on par with government research institutes varieties in farmer’s fields. The participation of government extension agencies is poor or totally lacking in the testing done by private seed companies. The survey conducted in areas of Hoskote, Kolar, Malur, Chikballapur, and Devenahalli using 150 farmers stratified random sampled of 30 farmers in each of the 5 taluks, with 10 each big, small, and marginal farmers to study the Linkage issues of the private seed companies reveal that the testing is normally on research farms of seed companies. Trials in farmers fields is selective The Horticulture department is not involved or not aware of the trials going on in their jurisdiction /service area. The issues are discussed under the following heads:

Research – Extension linkage for knowledge transfer for enhancing Agricultural productivity.

The major objective of both research and extension should be to increase farm productivity and to enhance farm incomes. The extension system must feed the research workers information about the constraints farmers have experienced in adopting research recommendations and the research system must have the capacity and readiness to respond with problem specific recommendations. Research should also seek to obtain direct feed back from the field, through field visits undertaken by research scientists preferably accompanied by extension workers and also through PTD.

Research and Extension (R & E) linkages must accommodate the need for seasonal or internal flexibility and adaptation and producer knowledge of local production conditions assumes a higher value. There is a consequence that, given that farmers in high potential areas, who have better control over their production environment, will continue to improve their efficiency. It is not unlikely that they will manage to strike agricultural prices down below the level at which it is feasible for a rainfed producer to use modern inputs and varieties. This implies that maintaining farming in some rainfed areas would require a technology based on different principles (Hoverkort, 1989).

In many cases, in many countries, the knowledge information system is administratively divided into research and extension directorate, department or division. This administrative set up might or might not, create an adequate infrastructure for effective information exchange. What is important is to distinguish the administrative setup (the formal organization chart) from knowledge and information system (Blok and Seegers, 1988).

Usually the administrative distinction between research and extension leaves an information gap which cannot be abridged easily by linkage mechanisms. Their ideologies, self-images and professional ethics are often very different (Bennett, 1988). Extension waits for readymade technologies and recommendations focussed on networking of services while research emphasizes scientific publications, which are half finished products from the point of view of extension (Mc Dermott, 1987). He points out that the some instructional go-between, a subject matter specialist or technical liaison or support is necessary to abridge the gap. In this middle ground there is no way to clearly distinguish research and extension .

Important functions of technical liaison are adaptive research, training, developing the reference material and training aids, trouble shooting and responding to extension agent on requests for help. Again when the results have been tested in farmers’ fields, then, the extension agents must be able to disseminate in to the farmers. This requires a system with agents capable of understanding the research process, knowing the limits to the research and communicating on a professional level with the researchers. Thus, it emphasizes that there must be an intimate professional link between research and extension.

Kerala's agricultural situation is passing through a difficult phase today. It is primarily due to the low rate of return from agriculture, over the years, leading to severe social problems. Socially, economically and politically, rice is an important crop of Kerala. The low remuneration resulting from unscientific management and poor marketing has worked as a vicious circle in bringing down the interest in farming among the diminishing farming community in Kerala. This in turn has resulted in conversion of paddy fields over the years for other purposes. A study has pointed out that there exists a huge gap between the science and practice of agriculture in Kerala . Despite the best efforts by developmental agencies the average productivity of paddy fields hover around 2 MT/Ha. There is need to give new shape, pattern and direction to Agricultural Extension to make it more vibrant and responsive to changing scenario and global economy by reviewing and restructuring present system of Agricultural Extension.

In the midst of this scenario, exists a group of farmers who have organized to successfully run their agriculture as a profitable and sustainable model for the state as an example. The experiences of Paruthikkavu Nelulpadaka Padasekhara Samithy which was the recipient of the first "Nel Kathir " award instituted for the best rice group farming society in the state by Government of Kerala and the recent award as one of the eight farmer organizations by Government of India’s Ministry of Agriculture as part of their "integrating Front Line Extension System in the country" is a pointer towards the future in Agricultural Extension strategies to be adopted for meaningful transfer of technology.

The case study points out origin, activities lessons learnt from the expenenues of the scemothy. The paper on concludes with a message that whatever can be made locally should be made locally.

Situated in the renowned Paddy Granary of Palakkad and located at Paruthikau( Tattamangalam) under the jurisdiction of Tattamangalam Krishi Bhavan. There remains a group of traditionally green areas of fields scattered over Paruthikavu – Ayyampathy – Thachenkonam – owned andoperated by a team of enthusiastic agriculturists amounting to over 65 Hectors called ‘the Paruthikavu Nellupadaka Padasehara Samithi who was fortunate enough to receive the highest honour of Kerala Governments ‘NELKATHIR AWARD"

This paper narrates the birth of organization, objectives, activities carried out, recognition / award and the vision of samithy in the words of secretary of the organisation.

Various agriculture and rural development projects support and initiate formation of different types of beneficiary organizations and provide technical and financial assistance to them. Such group approach to reorganize extension services has become the rule of the day. However organizations formed by farmers self initiative and engaged directly in providing extension services are rare. Sims and Leonard (1990) in their paper titled as ‘Political economy of development and transfer of technology’ have emphasized the dominant role of such farmers groups in strengthening what they call as Institutional Agriculture Technology System (IATS). Farmers organizations are either rare in developing nations or often overlooked by public officials as technically ill-informed or short sighted.

The present paper based no pilot survey aims at identifying farmers organizations recently emerging in Kerala state to provide and support extension services to village community. The result indicates that there are around 60 farmers organizations of varying sizes and mandate operating in Calicut district, the locale of the study. An investigation conducted with 6 such selected groups with which the Krishi Vigyan Kendra is associated analyzed the following variables; Group formation, organizational structure (composition, constitution and decision making), leadership, resource mobilization to meet organizational costs, functions, linkages and extent of participation.

In all the cases the organizations were formed by the sole initiative of local village leaders without any direct involvement of formal or political leaders. All the organizations were launched within a span of last 2-3 years coinciding with the statewide implementations of People Planning Programme by the state government. Hence these org

Session - 1	Extension Approaches, Strengths and Weaknesses of Private Extension Services
Session – 2	Linkages between Private and Public Extension Systems Models of Private and Public Extension Cooperation
Session – 3	Policy Guidelines for Private Extension
Session – 4	Role of Private Extension in Millennium
Session – 5	Innovations in Private Extension