PRIVATIZATION OF EXTENSION

Savas (1987) defined private extension as the process of funding and delivering the extension services by private individual or organization. privatization is the act of reducing the role of government or increasing the role of private sector in an activity or in the ownership of assets. (Savas, 1987)

 According to Shekara, the genesis of private extension may be because of two reasons

1)      Inability of the public extension to reach all the farmers, all the time, regarding all problems created the space, which is gradually filled by private extension.

2)      The services which are not fully covered by public extension are covered by private extension- eg. Input supply, market support, processing etc.

According to Shekara, public extension suffers from following limitations

1. The extension worker : farmer ratio is very wide in India ie 1:1000
2. Educational background and professional expertise of VLW is low
3. At present the role of VLW is confined to providing advisory to the process of production

Whether private extension is a substitute for public extension?

            Not. Private and public extension are the two sides of the same coin called agricultural extension. Both aims at serving the ultimate client farmer through different ways. Hence, they are the co-partners in the process of development of farmer. It is the bound duty of public extension worker to work with all others who are working for farmer. It is impossible to meet all the farmers, all the time. This gap created is filled by private extension service providers but not fully. This gap filling is expected to continue in the light of availability of huge space created by public extension, WTO and rapid commercialization of agriculture.

Whether PESP is accountable to the farmer?

Yes. Here, the farmer pays for the service. He has every right to claim the quality of service morally and legally.

Does paid extension bring desirable change?

            Accountability in the service provided, the confidence with which the farmer demands the services and the quality of services provided by PESP to survive in the field are expected to induce a dynamic change in Indian agriculture. Farmer commands respect and demands service just because he pays. He also uses the services responsibly, because it is not free, paid out of his hard earned money.

Whether privatization through payment is value addition to the extension?

            Buying the information like other inputs namely seeds, fertilizers, farmer considers information on par with and as important as other inputs. If it happens, it will be a major shift in the minds of farmers, which the Indian agriculture always wanted to happen.

 According to Gowda, favorable factors for privatization of Agricultural Extension in India

• Technological advancement in the areas of communication and IT
• Opening out of public research and educational institutes to part with the technologies
• Changing cropping trend and emergence of contract farming
• Need to earn more from smaller holdings
• Loss of credibility in the existing extension system
• Inability of the public extension system to reach the large target client system

According to Gowda, challenges for privatization of Agricultural extension in India

• Larger area under subsistence farming
• Need for location specific technologies
• Women dominated rural work force
• Competition among private extension systems leading to contradictory messages

Privatization approaches

1)      Share cropping system

2)      Extension contract system

3)      Village extension contract system

4)      Contract farming

5)      Public extension through private delivery

6)      Services for vouchers

Share cropping system

            Here farmer uses his land and labour. Extension worker provides advisory and inputs. Since, extension worker has a personal stake, it motivates him to put maximum effort. Hired labour and other costs are shared between them.

Extension contract system

            Agricultural consultant or firm will provide advisory and inputs to individual farmer or groups. The cost of input is recovered after the harvest. The extension worker or firm is compensated by the farmer with some percent of the value of the crop.

Village extension contract system

            An agricultural advisory committee consisting of representatives of farmers at village level hire consultancy. The committee collects money from villagers based on some criteria like area or crop and pay for consultancy.

Contract farming

            The agri-business firm provides all inputs and technology. It also supervises production process. As per the MOU the farmer has to sell his product, as quality specified to the firm only, for a premium price. The firm process and sell the product. Here the farmer gets input, technology and market support. The firm gets quality products at reasonable price by eliminating the middlemen.

Public extension through private delivery

            Agricultural consultancy firms are graded and certified by a government agency. Depending on PESP capacity, extension services are awarded to competitive bidders sat different levels ie state, district, block or village panchayat. The service cost is shared between government and clients et farmers in different proportions. If the clients are not happy about the service, the consultancy firm will be replaced by others.

Service for vouchers

            Here, farmers are given vouchers depending upon the size of the land, type of crop and type to information needed for certain years, say five. Farmers can use those services trading the vouchers to any agricultural consultant or firm, whether public or private, but after the period, he has to pay for all the services fully, as and when he receives. These vouchers will go to other farmers ie next priority group. Thus, gradually farmers are empowered and public service is gradually withdrawn.

Reasons behind the privatization issue

Ø      Financial burden on Government

Ø      Disappointing performance of public extension service

Ø      Commercialization of Agriculture

Assumptions behind private extension

Positive assumptions

• Extension generates new income, extension become economic input
• The efforts of public extension is complemented or supplemented by private extension system
• Cost effective,efficient and quality extension service are obtained
• Extension personnel become more client accountable
• Clients become more committable to the service
• Provides demand-driven service

Negative assumptions

• Private extension concentrates big and progressive farmers and areas having favourable environment
• Private extension don't concentrate on foodgrain production
• Private extension restricts flow of information
• Private extension is less education oriented and more commercial in nature
• Private extension is not suitable to small nd marginal farmers

Scope of private extension

ü      Provide farm advisory services for profit maximization of clients

ü      Supply inpuy at correct time for better production

ü      Providing market information and market intelligence

ü      Processing the clients produce

ü      Marketing the clients produce

ü      Providing credit facilities for farmers

ü      Providing infrastructure facilities

Private extension system in India

1. Cost sharing by farmers' groups
2. Contradicting services to private initiatives
3. Cost recovery on selected services offered to farmers
4. Paid extension service for high value crops or favored regions
5. Value addition of products by agro-processing firms
6. Problem solving consultancy services
7. Privatized service centers for farmers
8. SHGs of farmers
9. HRD through need based trainings
10. Information support through media organization

Consequences of privatization of extension service

v     Social distance

v     Social conflict

v     Social dis-equilibrium

v     Higher gap between have and haven't

v     Selectiveness of technologies for adoption

v     Commercialization with human value

v     Shortage of essential food grain required at village level

Factors to be considered for privatization of agricultural extension service

• Types of crops cultivated
• Socio-economic differences
• Entirely drastic agro-climatic variations
• Changes in rainfall pattern, vagaries of monsoon, floods and cyclones etc.

Merits

• Private extension reduces the economic burden of the government
• Increases the efficiency of extension services provided upto the satisfaction of farmers
• It increases the accountability of extension agent
• It is cost effective compared to public extension due to low overhead charges
• Certification and grading of technical consultants is possible for regulation
• Government can focus on sustainable areas leaving regular extension to private extension
• Personal economic interest of the extension agent mixed with his profession increases his involvement in extension activity
• Private sector involvement in agricultural research and extension results in increases in both formal and informal links between all participants in the agricultural industry.

Demerits

• Private extension agencies do not usually apply their resource to the food crops that are fundamental to farmers, but on those who produce the cash crops
• Extension agents in a privatized extension service are inclined to concentrate larger farmers who can afford to pay the fee
• It may hamper free flow of information
• The farmer might be more inclined to follow advice which he or she has paid for in the first place
• Privatization may have some attendant disadvantages because of unequal access to resources and because of a diversity of agencies and the associated difficulty of coordinating external groups and other government departments
• The education role played by public extension agencies at present may lose site in case the extension services are privatized
• Privatization is likely to widen the already prevailing socio-economic inequalities in different parts of the country
• Public extension personnel are engaged not only in the task of transfer of information to the clients but also in empowerment of farming community by organizing, motivating and guiding farmers’ group through group management approaches. Extension is a very serious business that can not be left to the commercial agencies. Public extension needs to address the  issues of sustainability , environment and equity

Classification of the new private extension initiatives in India based on their type (according to the research conducted by Arunkumar, 2003

1. Agri-clinics and agro-service centers:

To utilize the potential of a large number of unemployed agriculture graduates, Government of India started a scheme known as ‘Agri-clinics and Agri-business centers’. Agri-clinics are envisaged to provide expert services to farmers on cropping practices, technology dissemination, crop protection from pests and diseases, market trends and prices of various crops also clinical services for animal health etc. which would enhance productivity of crops and animals. Agri-business centers are envisaged to provide input supply, farm equipment on hire and other similar services.

1. Agri-business firms:

Agri-business firms operates mainly in activities related to seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, machineries, information, finance, processing and trading.

Types of Agri-business firms

a)      Agro-processing companies

b)      Agro-export companies

c)      Agro-input companies

d)      Input and information supplying firms

a)      Agro- processing companies are involved in extension activities to reduce the supply risk of inputs. Major initiative among the agro-processing companies is the contract farming started in Punjab by multinational companies like Pepsi Foods Limited and Hindustan Lever Ltd.

Contract farming in Punjab was first started by ‘Pepsi’ with Tomato during 1991 and then extended to other crops like chillies (1994) and potato (1996). Entry of Pepsi to this field was followed by Hindustan Lever during 1995. Contracts undertaken by the firms in Punjab are procurement and input contracts under which the firm not only agrees to buy the specified qualified produce at a fixed limit and price but also provides inputs like seedlings on credit, technical advice and various equipments on returnable basis. The machineries provided are chiseler, bed maker, bed shaper, transplanter etc; these firms also introduced many new cultivation practices like deep chiseling, new methods of transplantation and new seed varieties. They publish farmer bulletins and give training for selected farmers by firm’s extension staff for educating farmers about the new technologies din farming. They also promote relevant traditional techniques.

b)  Agro-export companies are involved in export of agricultural produce to other countries. ITC-IBD – International Business Division of Indian Tobacco Company started an internet kiosks cum one-stop-one-shop for the farmers known as the ‘choupals’ helps in building a strong relationship with the farmers and to optimize procurement cost significantly. It has implemented three projects namely soya choupal, aqua choupal and coffee club. By June 2001, two soya-kiosks had set up to connect 20000 farmers in 500 villages of Madhya Pradesh to provide latest local and global information on weather, best farming practices and world market prices of the commodity. It had setup 5 coffee kiosks in coffee estates of Mercarec, Mysore and Chickmangalore in Karnataka. Similarly, it had set up ‘aquachoupal’ in villages around Bhimavaram in Andhra Pradesh. The company is now planning to extend the concept of e-choupals to other crops like wheat, pulses, groundnut, sesame, paddy and black pepper in 14 states around the country.

c)  Agro-input companies involve in extension service activities to promote their product, ensure its proper use and thus to increase or to preserve their market share. Mahindra Krishi Vihar is an example of successful initiative. The Mahindra Shubhlabh Services Limited (MSSL), a fully own subsidiary of Mahindra and Mahindra has come with the concept of OSS (one-stop-shop). It has opened two Krishi Vihars in South India, one in Madurai (TN), another in Miryalguda (AP). It has 3 components

• Agri-input sale (fertilizer, pesticide and seed)
• Equipment hiring (combine harvester)
• Farm consultancy

d) Input and Information supplying firms:

A major new initiative in this area is Agrocel-Agro service centers by Exel group of companies. Agrocel centers were launched in 1988 with a shared capital from the Gujarat Agro Industries Corporation, the Government of Gujarat. They have seven service centers in different states. They offer advisory services in crop improvement, land and water management, nutrient management, pest and disease management, integrated cotton management and organic farming.

NGO initiatives:

Village Knowledge Centre by MSSRF

            The M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) has initiated a project namely ‘Village Knowledge Centre’ in 1998. The major objective is providing the rural families, access to a variety of information in fostering agricultural and rural developments through the use of ICTs. These VKCs disseminate the information using is play boards, computers, and Public Address System and paper clippings as per the requirements. For instance, weather forecast for fishermen are translated into local language and broadcast over PAS. Area specific information related to crops, prices of agricultural inputs and outputs, health care, livestock care, transport, weather, government development schemes are provided.

Tata Kisan Sansar (TKS)- a subsidiary of Tata chemicals Limited has taken extension initiatives or activities in Chitradurga district of Karnataka.

Services rendered are

a)      Regular field visits by the field officers to the member farmers’ fields and solving their technical problems needed to cultivation of pomegranate.

b)      Soil and plant sample analysis of each member farmer’s field and recommending specific nutrient management practices.

c)      Providing credit facilities for the establishment of orchards and establishing drip irrigation facilities in collaboration with banks like ING Vysya and State Bank of Mysore

d)      Post harvest practices like sorting, grading, packing and marketing of pomegranate

e)      Provision of all needed inputs on pomegranate cultivation like plant protection chemicals, fertilizers etc. on credit to the member farmers.

f)       Consultancy services to the farmers in aspects related to pomegranate  cultivation

The agency is offering service only to their member farmers. To become the member of TKS a farmer has to pay Rs.500 per acre of pomegranate per year. As a result of service of TKS,

a)      Adoption of modern pomegranate technology by farmers had been increased

b)      Yield of pomegranate had been increased as 1.16 tonnes per acre per year ie 34.12% increase over the earlier yield

c)      Farmers are willing to pay for integrated extension services to solve the technical problems. The average amount they are willing to pay is Rs.505 per acre per year.

 STATUS OF PRIVATE EXTENSION IN INDIA (provided by Shekara)

The fruits and benefits of an effective agricultural extension service have long been recognized, yet very often extension services in developing countries have failed to accomplish desired objectives and meet people’s expectations.

In Indian context, the role of agricultural extension in bringing the benefits of the green revolution to the farmer and making the country self reliant in food production is appreciated. Still, people’s expectations are not fully met. They are not happy with the rate at which their problems are solved and the rate at which agricultural development is taking place.

Some of the problems in public extension system observed are:

1.       Public extension services are widely viewed as supply driven rather than demand driven.

2.       Commercialisation of agriculture gave rise to specialized client and demand for location specific extension services which are not catered by public extension system.

3.       Public extension deals with a large area, large population and diverse cropping pattern. Extension services provided are general in nature rather than specific and intensive.

4.       High cost, low impact of extension programmes, growing conflicts between farmer’s interest and policy goals, poor motivation of staff and conflicting roles are observed in public extension.

5.       Insufficient face to face contact between extension worker and farmer.

6.       Inadequate funds for operational purpose.

7.       Majority of the extension services are curative in nature.

8.       Inadequate technical qualifications of VLW.

9.       Incomplete extension services.

10.   Inadequate internal organisation structure

11.   Inefficiency of extension personnel

12.   Inappropriateness or irrelevance of extension content.

13.   Dilution of impact.

This public sector monopoly came under increasing threat in the 1980’s as many started questioning the desirability of this situation on economic and efficiency ground. Increasing restraints on government finances and emergence of new extension arrangements offered by the private and voluntary sector have accelerated the process of limiting the role of government in extension. Extension privatization is under active consideration in India and many state governments have initiated measures to achieve this end.

When agriculture extension is discussed, privatization is used in the broadest sense of introducing or increasing private sector participation which does not necessarily imply a transfer of designated state owned assets to the private sector.

But, private extension services are primarily of two types. The first is the entirely private type which is directly involved in farming activities through consultants, agri-business, agricultural input industries etc. The second type consists of farmer’s organizations, NGO’s etc., which remain largely dependent on government subsidies.

The farmer’s problems and agricultural technology become ever more complicated, there can no longer be dealt with effectively from a centralized and bureaucratic public entity. Public sector has definitely reached its limit. Therefore, the time has come to turn whenever possible to the private sector for support, though not for total substitution. Intermediate steps do exist between a solely public extension system and a solely private one.

The following examples will help illustrate some of the various stages that can eventually lead to users and the private sector as a whole taking increasing responsibility for extension.

Ecuador - Extension and sharecropping

In the highlands of Ecuador, extension agents share crop with farmer for a profit. Their low salary motivate extension agents to share crop. The farmer’s provide land and labour while the extension agents supply agricultural inputs and technical advice. Hired labour and other costs are shared. The agents have fixed salary, they easily obtain farm inputs from suppliers on credit until the harvest. Sharecropped field serves as a demonstration plot. To broaden this sharecropping practice, a suggestion has been made that the extension agents be allowed to share in the profits of joint farming enterprises.

China - An Extension contract system

A system of contract extension has been introduced in some provinces. Agro-Technical Extension Centres (ATEC’s) which operate all the way from the national to the township level draw up contracts to provide technical services and inputs to a farmer or a group of farmers. The extension stations / centers are compensated by the farmers with typically 20 percent of the value of the crop above the agreed target.
If the harvest falls below the agreed target as a result of poor technical recommendations or non-supply of timely inputs, the pay or bonuses of the contracted extension workers may be reduced upto 80 percent of the shortfall.

It is estimated that only around 5 to 10 percent of the total number of extension workers in China remains with the large commodity oriented state farms, whereas the rest work with the many households. Many non-state extension agents work independently without being officially registered. For instance, individual farmers with experience may provide advice to outsiders for a fee, or farmers may organize themselves in producers associations which may advise other farmers on a paying basis.

Research institutions, agricultural colleges and individual scientists and teachers in China may sign contracts with rural units or farmers to provide technical support on an annual or continual basis. Some research results are now directly sold in the market place. At the same time, China is also enforcing a patent law to protect proprietary rights to research results.

Denmark - Management Committees

The government plays a minor role in Rural development but by contrast, is heavily involved in training and in adaptive research. The Danish extension service operates under management committees, that are administered by farmers. There is one national development center and about one hundred local ones. The local extension agents are supported by 99 advisors from the Danish Agricultural Advisory Centre. The extension agents work is planned by farmer’s elected to the committees. A law defines the role of extension and makes sure its agents are impartial and not beholden to commercial interests.

Government funding of extension services has gone down from 37 percent in 1972 to 14 percent in 1991, and further cuts are contemplated. Farmer’s contribution decreased from 17 to 8 percent during the same period. Most impressive has been the increase from 46 percent to 78 percent in the amounts billed to and paid by farmers. The later are charged by the hour for each visit by an agent to their household. Information and advice by phone are free.

Netherlands - Toward fifty-fifty

Farmers pay for advice and technical recommendations from the Agricultural Industry and Agri-business. Since the beginning of 1993, farmers have to pay for an increased share of the extension services, by annual increments of 5 percent until their share reaches. 50 percent in 2003. Farmers contribution will, by 2003 derive as follows, 15 per cent from a general tax based on the size of each farm, 15 per cent from direct contributions for services and 20 per cent from taxes and levies on farm produce.

Sweden - Consultants to farmers

Agricultural Extension activities are carried out through a wide range of organizations. Farmers cooperatives and private commercial firms employ increasing numbers of people trained in agriculture to serve as consultants to farmers. Some rural communities employ their extension agents. Additionally, the public radio and television networks offer educational and informative programmes aimed at farmers.

United Kingdom - Public Extension for a fee

1987 onwards funds of public system started to decrease, the public extension services mould gradually from cost-free-to-farmer to fee paying consultancies. These are usually in the form of contracts that include a package of actions and / or visits. Public system initially aimed for covering 50 percent operating cost, and eventually becoming 100 percent autonomous.

Some 200 out of 4000 public system extension workers have gone private. They are members of British Institute of Agricultural Consultants (BAIC) and look after their own groups of farmers. Their fees are no higher than those of public agents, the latter being at a disadvantage due to overhead costs. The consultants are now targeting the small landholders, who appear to be those in most need of advice.

Germany - Decentralization

In the early 90’s, there were some 3,323 agents supported by the public sector, of which 2,750 were employed by the chambers of agriculture. In addition to public extension, some 2,760 private advisers belonged to various professional groups, farmers associations, unions, training centers and private firms. To ensure high standards, farmers are advised to retain the services of those extension agents that are certified by the German Society for Agriculture. Advice from public extension remains free to farmers. Increasingly, farmers with similar activities and interests are forming groups to get the support of specialized technicians. The groups pay an additional contribution to the chamber of agriculture for such technicians. Private firms together with co-operatives also provide advice.

Portugal - Gradual Privatisation

An interesting programme of privatization was initiated in Portugal in late 1991. The purpose was for the government to gradually privatize the Agriculture Ministry’s traditional functions with the exception of research and experimental agriculture. Since 1988, about 400 servants have left the public sector to become employees of private farming organizations and to work directly for cooperatives.

Spain - Still centralized

The extension responsibility is rested with Ministry of Agriculture. The extension services were decentralized among country’s 17 regions, resulting in regionally autonomous but still public extension services. Advice provided by these services remain free. Country has 8000 chambers of agriculture which are funded by the institute for rural relations. The major unions has some technicians who work in close collaboration with the public extension service.

Tunisia - Geared for change

The government is increasingly diverting itself from a growing number of support services to agriculture. In addition to the services concerned with supplying farm inputs, collecting farm produce and providing veterinary services. Some private extensionists earn more than the average salary in the United States. This will certainly encourage other extensionists to try going private. Some large cooperatives have their own technicians as well. Public extension have new role that needs to be more clearly defined, i.e. more geared to training, improving links with research, preserving natural resources, ensuring sustainable development etc.

Chile - Subsidized private consulting services :

Agricultural Development Institute (INDAP) is an agency created within Ministry of Agriculture with the mandate to raise small scale farmer’s living standards. INDAP handles a subsidized private consulting services. It is publicly funded and privately executed by private technology transfer firms that are certified by INDAP. Farmers are not free to select the firm of their choice but have to accept the one designated by INDAP for the region. However, if the farmers as a group decide to change to another firm, they can ask INDAP for such a change. These firms do not provide supplies but focus only on technology transfer. The farmers who sign annual contracts with a firm are expected to contribute upto 30 percent of the cost of the programme by the time the project is completed. The ratio of farmers versus extension agents is typically 48:1. INDAP prepares the terms of reference, select consulting firms through competitive bidding and supervises and evaluates firms performance. Medium and large scale farmer’s also participate in a similar programme which directly transfers research results to the farm level. Currently this programme is totally private funded. In this project the extension services are provided by private sector firms and NGOs and the concept of graduation is to be applied both to extension and credit programmes to reduce small farmers dependence on the public sector in three phases over a period of 6 years.

Costa Rica - An Extension voucher pilot programme :

In Costa Rican Ministry of Agriculture, some extension personnel are moved to the private sector. A private technical assistance voucher pilot programme will increase the capacity of producers to contract private extension. During 7 years implementation period, the programme will consist of packages of vouchers varying according to type of farmers and level of technology. Farmers will trade vouchers for individual and group technical assistance to be delivered by private extensionists. Type-I and Type-II farmers are distinguished according to whether they require high or low intensity technical assistance. At project completion, beneficiaries of the voucher programme are expected to complete with solely private technical assistance. The private extensionist is to indicate annually to the Ministry of Agriculture which individual farmers should graduate from programme. Finally, training is to be provided by the private extensionist.

Some observations of private extension scenario worldwide :

• Private extension reduces the economic burden of governments – Netherlands
• Increases the efficiency of extension services provided upto the satisfaction of farmers
• Economic interest of the extension agent increases his involvement in providing extension services – Share cropping
• Privatisation increases the accountability of extension agent – extension contract system on China
• Privatisation increases the competency of the research system – Extension contract system in China
• It is possible to present the farmers being exploited by private extension agents by proper legislation – Management Committees of Denmark
• Money spent by private consultants to provide the same extension services provided by public system is less due to high overhead charges in latter case
• Government can ensure quality extension services by technically competent extension agents through legislation – certification in Germany
• Government can privatize extension while concentrating more on important areas – Tunisia
• Government can have maximum control over private extension activities – Chile

Types of organizations providing private extension services in India

Profile of Private Extension Service Providers 

State Agricultural Universities

Krishi Vigyan Kendras

Farmer’s Associations

Producers’ Cooperatives

Research Institutions

Input companies

Consultancy Services

Non-Govermental Organizations

Commodity Boards

Media-AIR and Doordarshan

Media-Print

Department of Agriculture :

Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India is the agency which oversees all agricultural activities taking place in the country. Directorate of Extension is the nodal agency which assists and encourage the state departments in organizing, maintaining and operating professional extension services. The role of directorate is essentially collaborative, providing guidance, technical support, exchange of information and coordination

Agriculture is a state subject. Line departments include various state departments such as agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, dairy development, fisheries and sericulture. Line department staff makes routine visits and pass technical messages on what needs to be done in crops. DOA activities in all states are constrained by inadequate operational funds and partly by inadequate subject matter knowledge / training of majority of the staff. Most of their time goes on implementation of a number of state and central sector programmes that have some input / subsidy delivery. All most all services are free.

Out of 80,800 village extension workers, 78,000 belonged to the Department of Agriculture in 1988 (Misra,1990). Presently state employ some 1,10,000 extension staff of whom around 20% are graduates (ICAR,1998).

The report of the working group on extension for the formulation of IX Five Year Plan describes the current status of agricultural extension services as follows:

1. Largely in the public sector, other operators remain at the periphery without clear policy enunciation or institutional support.

2. Operate largely in an interpersonal mode of select contact farmers (largely men) without planned and optimum utilization of the media and other modes

3. Low level of involvement of farmers in technology development and dissemination process.

4. Substantially top-down leaving little scope for localized planning and action.

5. Upward looking, therefore generate uniformity rather than specificity and focus on farm and rather than substance.

6. Manned by functionaries with low morale, low knowledge level and low incentives with limited exposure to recent developments in communication technology and

7. Resulting in depleting credibility, self esteem, relevance and public support (DAC,1996)

One factor deciding the overall effectiveness of extension is the amount of operational funds available for extension. One of the major criticisms of the agriculture departments has been the heavy salary bills leaving little for operational support for extension. A study revealed that the operational expenditure available for extension vary from 3.7% to 15.4%. In other words, salary accounts for about 85-97% of the government expenditure in line departments. Another study found that the actual cost of operating T and V based extension services in India (17 states) is about Rs.4000 million or USD 150 million. This works out to about Rs.50 per agricultural farm holding or about Rs.27 per ha cultivated (Macklin, 1992).

States are all encouraging the NGOs to take up extension activities. The Department of Agriculture, Rajasthan has extended an invitation to NGOs to take up extension work in any defined extension unit such as a cluster or an AAO circle. Under agricultural development project, the functioning of three AAOs circles were handed over to NGOs, i.e., GDC Research Foundation, Jaipur, Social Policy Research Institute, Jaipur and Jandhara Trust, Jaipur. Many NGOs given grants by the government for specific projects such as watershed development.

Review of the projects revealed that, two important issues constrained the effectiveness of collaboration. They are:

1. Suspicion on the motives and competence of NGOs by the government departments resulting in non-cooperation in activities at field level and active resistance by the employees who find in this a threat of loosing jobs in the long run.

2. Lack of staff and experience on agricultural research and extension by most NGOs.

But these constraints are not insurmountable and a lot of scope exists for active collaboration between the two so that the efficiency and effectiveness of both systems could be enhanced.

State Agricultural Universities:

There are 31 agricultural universities in the country. The universities perform three major functions namely teaching, research and extension. The major extension role of the university is to provide technical support and consultancy service to government departments (training) engaged in agricultural development work and to farmers in special cases. In terms of priority, agricultural extension ranks low in SAUs as evident from the expenditure and manpower allocated for it. In 1991-92, SAUs spent only 5% of its expenditure on extension education. In the same year, the SAUs employed only 4.7% of its manpower on extension units. The responsibility of planning and coordinating all extension activities of the university lies with Directorate of Extension. It has three major units i.e. communication center, training unit and farm advisory service. From farmers point of view, the directorates may not be of immediate benefit to farmers except for those residing nearly or near to it or nearby district of its location. The chances of constant interaction are also low because of the few technical manpower in the directorates and the large population to be covered in their operational area.

Some universities showing inclination for providing the services by charging. University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore is planning to establish agri-business advisory service where technologies are sold to private organsiations by charging and facilities are provided to private firms to conduct research on charging basis.

Krishi Vigyan Kendras:

With newer technologies becoming more knowledge based and thereby necessitating newer skills to adopt, the demand for a full fludged training centre become increasingly appreciated. By design, KVKs have an appropriate mix of multi-disciplinary expertise including specialists in important areas. Currently there are 261 KVKs in the country of which 27 are in ICAR institutes, 139 in SAUs, 86 in NGOs and remaining nine under Central Universities and Agricultural colleges. Till 1992, KVKs had been fully supported by the ICAR. But from the eighth plan period the funding is being phased out. The KVKs are presently being actively encouraged to generate additional resources. Some KVKs started charging for their training, sale of planting materials, seeds etc. Some went one step ahead like Vidya Bhavan, KVK, Udaipur in getting resources for adaptive and socio-economic research programmes from donors abroad like Ford Foundation and NORAD. All these are expected to make many of the KVKs financially sustainable even after the complete phasing out of government funds. Though many KVKs have started charging for their training, this seems to have not diminished the demand for KVK training.

Farmer’s Associations :

User groups, including farmer’s organisations, farmer clubs, commodity growers associations, young farmer’s clubs, women farmers groups, special interest groups etc. are expected to be effective institutional devices for creation of client driven agricultural research and extension system. Often farmer’s associations are the starting points for the development of producer’s cooperatives. Commodity specific farmers associations exist in only very few commodities in India. The need for initiating farmers associations in crops has been well recognised under NATP, it is proposed to use NGOs to organise farmers into groups. The idea is to encourage farmer’s groups to organise different types of services for themselves, including input supply, credit and or technical services and marketing arrangements – activities that would increase their productivity and incomes, while decreasing their dependence on government (ICAR, 1998).

Producers’ Cooperatives :

Producers’ Cooperatives are often formed to improve the marketing prospects in specific comodities where market operators are disadvantageous to the producers. They provide farmers the advantage of the economies of scale by bringing together produce from individual farms and marketing the same. Some of these organisations also provide extension services to its members. Most successful among them in India being the milk cooperatives.

Research Institutions

Research institutions of ICAR are doing some extension programmes as part of their outreach programmes. First of them are organising training programmes to the senior officers of the state line departments. Some are doing extension work through KVK also. Many ICAR institutes have been implementing the front line extension activities in select villages and this has improved the interaction between scientists and farmers in these selected villages. The institute village linkage programme (IVLP) is the latest in this direction.

Input Companies :

Many of the agro-input companies performs some extension functions. This could be also viewed as one function of marketing. It is not surprising to see that the marketing officers are the one who also oversee the extension related functions. Schwartz (1994) notes that private extension is generally not a stand alone activity but will be provided where three conditions hold. First, purchased inputs must be necessary to achieve desired production results. Secondly, these purchased inputs must be cost effective relative to output prices. Third, there should be a fairly high degree of competition between input suppliers for the same market share. In many countries, much extension work is done by companies selling pesticides and other agro-chemicals and animal feed companies (Van Den Ban, 2000). Major categories of input companies include those dealing with seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and agro-machinery.

Some of the extension methods adopted are :

Input companies spend considerable amount on advertisement, mainly to boost the sale of their products through bill boards, wall paintings, leaflets and media advertisements;

They also take up few demonstrations to publicise the new product;

Some companies also sponsor the cost of some extension activities of line departments such as agricultural seminars;

But in high value crops such as flowers, there are input firms which provide total extension support to their growers. This includes advise from site selection to technological guidance throughout the growing period and advise on marketing;

Some fertilizer companies arrange soil testing facilities;

Village adoption programmes are also carried out.

Consultancy Services :

Emergence of paid extension services in agriculture is a recent phenomenon.
A study by NCAP revealed that some farmers availed the services of experts from the public sector on payment basis on specific crops such as Fig and Grapes. Many professionals after retirement from the public system have also been providing consultancy to the farmers. The farmers often meet the travel expenditure of the expert besides payment. The farmers have also joined together on certain instances to avail the benefits of consultants. Knowing fully well the scope for such services and the revenue it may generate, some organisations are presently opening up their facilities for paid consultancy services young technically qualified professionals have also now entered into the fray by starting their own consultancy firms. There are also few big firms in the market willing to offer their technical expertise in farm development, glass house erection, micro irrigation systems, tissue culture etc. Many foreign firms are providing consultancy to Indian firms and farmers. Input companies engaged in floriculture are also providing consultancy services to growers who buy inputs from them.

Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) :

Around 15,000 - 20,000 NGOs in India are actively engaged in rural development. Wide variations in the densities of NGOs is observed among states and even districts. Certain districts have high densities of NGOs which overlap and complete for clients while in other areas there are hardly any NGOs. Annual NGO revenue from abroad is in the region of Rs.9 billion (Farrington and Lewis, 1993).

To increase the involvement of NGOs in efforts to strengthen the research – extension delivery system, a pilot Central Government Scheme, agricultural extension through voluntary organisations was launched in 1994-95, implemented on pilot basis by involving 14 NGOs from 8 states. Experience has been encouraging both in terms of physical targets and in integrating NGO efforts with those of the main extension system (DAC, 1996 b). The number of NGOs is proposed to increase to 50 covering more States in the ninth plan. In Rajasthan on pilot basis, few AAO circles are handed over to NGOs to carry out extension work.

Commodity Boards :

Commodity boards are engaged in activities which gives competitive edge to major Indian commodities. There are six commodity boards, 20 export promotion councils and two authorities to promote production, marketing and export of various commodities. They have their own research, extension, marketing and promotion wings. Extension activities is also supported by providing credit, subsidies and inputs. They have their own farm magazines in local languages and also training centres. Some commodity boards also introduced charging system for extension services like soil analysis, farm visits, training and publications.

Media-AIR and Doordarshan :

At present there are 81 AIR stations producing and broadcasting agricultural and rural programmes (Kaurani 1995). For effective linkage between the Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, a three tier mechanism for media coordination (national, State and Kendra level) has existed since 1994. The expenditure varies from 20 paise to 54 paise / ha. The agricultural programmes are aired in the morning and evening.

Now-a-days many private TV channels are telecasting agricultural programmes considering the cost effectiveness (cost / farmer), time at which they can reach many farmers at a time and the effectiveness of the media, efforts are needed to harness this potential.

Media-Print :

Organised attempts to use print media for extension work started with the initiation of Farm Information Bureaus in DOA and Universities. Books, magazines, leaflets are printed and circulated widely. Newspapers are also covering agriculture news items. Almost all dailies presently devote one page once in a week covering aspects of agriculture. Newspapers are published in 100 languages during 1995. Many private individuals and organisations are also in the publishing business in the field of agriculture. They are catching the attention of farmers now-a-days.

Performance of organisations :

NCAP through a study (2000) made an attempt to compare the performance of these organisations through three indicators.

They are :

a) Expenditure intensity :

It is the expenditure incurred by an organisation on extension activities per ha of net cropped area. Here, operational cost of extension activities is the numerator.

Expenditure intensity :

It is the expenditure incurred by an organisation on extension activities per ha of net cropped area. Here, operational cost of extension activities is the numerator.

Expenditure intensity = Expenditure incurred on extension activities by an organization divided by Net cropped area in its operational area.

b) Contact Intensity :

Contact intensity is derived based on the number / frequency of actual contacts an organisation makes with their clients in an year and the time involved with them. The product of contact numbers and time involved is derived by the target population of the organisation.

Contact intensity = Sum total of contact achieved by the organizations (in hours) divided by target population/cultivators

c) Technical Manpower :Cultivator Ratio (TC Ratio) :

TC Ratio is the ratio between the number of field level technical officers and the number of target population covered by the organisation in their operational area. The technical manpower available for extension includes only the field level functionaries directly involved in agricultural extension related tasks.

                                        Total population covered

            TC Ratio = ------------------------------------------------------------   No. of field level functionaries available for extension

This data is based on the study published by NCAP in 2000 and study was carried out in four states. 

Table showing ranking of organisations based on extension performance considering low expenditure, high contact and narrow TC Ratio:

 Status of Information Consultancy Pattern :

NCAP study (2000) reveals that dealers, relatives / friends of farmers, newspapers and farm magazines are the important sources of information consulted by farmers for making decisions in agriculture out of 22 sources existing.

Statewise details are as follows:

* Newspaper – II, Farm Magazines – III

Level of satisfaction of farmers to their first preferred

source of information

(NCAP, 2000)

In all the States, majority of the farmers had medium level of satisfaction with all the information sources, except with DOA in Kerala. Therefore, efforts are needed by all organsiations to increase the satisfaction level of farmers.

Willingness to pay for agriculture related information

(NCAP, 2000)

Almost half of the farmers expressed their willingness to pay for extension services.
The reasons may be:

Farmers are shifting from food crops to non-food crops.

They involve high investment and needs information which majority of the time not available in DOA. They look for other agencies and ready to purchase information which is vital to make profit.

Types of information / services for which farmers are ready to make payment

and the conditions for payment in Maharashtra

 Types of information / services for which farmers are ready to make payment and the conditions for payment in Rajasthan

Types of information / services for which farmers are ready to make payment

and the conditions for payment in Kerala

Crops having high demand for paid services

(NCAP, 2000)

Table indicates that majority of the farmers were willing to pay for the services in relation to cultivation of vegetables and oilseeds where they can expect more returns than food crops.

Willingness to pay

Majority of the farmers are willing to pay Rs.25 as fee to extension adviser. However, that also depends on quality of information, crop cultivated and demand of farmers.

Privatising extension activities and conditions for success

Priorities for public sector extension

Future Focus

1. Agricultural Consultants :

Conducting training programmes for agricultural graduates who wish to become agricultural consultants. MANAGE will be the certifying authority. Certified consultants form a professional body at national level having base at MANAGE on the lines of IMC. They work out professional guidelines to regulate the activities of consultants in liaison with government. This professional body can take over bigger agricultural projects reducing burden on government but working with government. Government can insist for certified consultants for assigning work.

3. Agri-business firms :

There is a scope to conduct a research study on ‘Advertising for Rural Masses". The outcome / findings will serve as input for training programmes to be organised for agri-business firms. Even NGOs and GOs could also make use of the programme to push social issues among masses. This work can be collaborated with IIMC, New Delhi.

All the agri-business companies are interested in marketing their products, and hence carry out extension activities with respect to their product like seed, fertilizer separately. But, from a farmer's point of view, he needs a package rather than a product or practice. Thus, a seed company, a fertilizer company, a pesticide company, an agri-machinery company, an agro-processing company together carry out extension activities ultimately benefiting themselves and farmer both. Case studies if available have to be documented, studied or agri-business firms may be persuaded to carry out a pilot project that will serve as input for training programmes to be conducted for agri-business companies.

Workshop on factors influencing the growth of private extension.

4. Agricultural Dealers :

·         It is necessary to press for legislation making training compulsory for seeking license for dealership.

·         MANAGE can also take up the responsibility of conducting training at district level to dealers in association with KVKs/NGOs/SAUs.

5. Farmer’s organisations / Producer’s Cooperatives :

·         Documentation of success stories / case studies;

·         Training on ‘Innovative Extension Approaches in Farmer’s Organisations’;

·         Training on ‘Rural Marketing’ ;

·         Pilot study on ‘Young farmer’s club’ and subsequently training.

6. GO-NGO sector :

·         Training on ‘Initiating and sustaining self help groups’

·         Pilot study on contracting extension services to non-profit organisations in remote and difficult areas

·         A case study on substitution of public extension with private extension.

7. Government organisations :

Training on ‘Public-private extension cooperation- Approaches and challenges'

8. Newspapers, TV channels, Internet and Agricultural Journals :

a) Training on ‘Agricultural Journalism – New Dimensions’ ;

Pilot study on ‘Agricultural Extension through media coordination committees’

9. International Cyber Seminar on Private Extension

10. Workshop on "Guidelines for Private Extension"

11. Workshop on " Public Sector in Private Extension Development through policy reforms and institutional changes.

12. Seminar on "Low Cost and No Cost Agricultural Technologies:"

13. WTA and its impact on "Indian Agricultural Extension: Banner Seminar"

14. Website on Private Extension

 References

Arunkumar, K.V.(2003)- Privatised Extension in practice- Effectiveness and management, Thesis, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi.

Ameur,C. (1994) Agricultural Extension – A step beyond the next step. World Bank Technical paper number 247. The World Bank, Washington, D.C.

Chandrakandan,K. and Karthikeyan,C.(2001)- Private extension in India: Issues and options, National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management, Hyderabad.

Gowda, M.J.C, (2001)- Microlevel opportunities and challenges for privatisation of Agricultural Extension, National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management, Hyderabad.

Rivera, W.M. and Cary J.W.(1997), Privatising Agricultural Extension, Improving Agricultural Extension – A reference manual, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Rome.

Shekara,P.C. (2001), Private Extension in India: Myths, Realities, Apprehensions and Approaches, National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management, Hyderabad.

Sulaiman,V.R and Sadamate,V.V. (2000), Privatising Agricultural Extension in India, Policy paper – 10, National Commission for Agricultural Policy (NCAP), New Delhi.