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Transcript

Hello Friends. In our last class we were discussing about a range of programs that were planned and implemented for the benefit of the small and marginal farmers and the drought prone area farmers. In today’s class we will be discussing about the training and visit system of extension, which we can say that the reorganized extension system. Why did we say that it is reorganized extension system? Because for the first time in Indian context, an exclusive structure for providing extension services was developed under Community Development Program. So that was the first ever organized extension activity after independence, that we can say. With some administrative structure and a particular objective and a program. So 1952 to 1973, so we had seen a range of agricultural development programs. But the concept of extension was not given due emphasis as far as development of organizational structure for that and replication of that organizational structure at the national level was not given due emphasis and importance.

But with the introduction of this training and visit system in the year 1974, it became a reality, that so an exclusive organizational structure for providing extension services from top to bottom was evolved under this program. So that is why we say that it is a reorganized extension system. Coming to some of the key features that we can observe under this reorganized extension system or the training and visit system of extension. The first one is the professionalism. So how can we say that it is more professional compared to the other administrative structures that was evolved under different programs. Because under this particular program the key information was the information input. So only the qualified professionals in agriculture and allied subjects were providing the information to the intended communities. So that is how it became more professional.

The next, the single line of command. In case of Community Development Program, the people who were acting as the extension officers; technically they were controlled by a different head and administratively they were controlled by a different head. Block Development Officer and the Project Officer. So under such circumstances the person who is acting as a professional is having an administrative dichotomy. So for technical matters he is reporting to somebody and for administrative matters he is reporting to somebody else. So that administrative dichotomy was removed under the training and visit system. There is only one individual for reporting both technical as well as administrative activities. And that is how we say that there is single line of command. Each and every officer is controlled by one individual and the chain continues from top to bottom. The next key feature of this training and visit system is the concentration of efforts. Compared to the previous developmental initiatives, the programs wherein various other issues associated with agricultural issues were taken care of. But under training and visit system, only the issues associated with crop production and agriculture were the items to be discussed, so that is why we say that there is a concentration of effort.

Then the time bound work. Each and every professional involved under this administrative structure is having a specific time cycle, wherein he has to take up and he has to report a particular officer. So let me start it with the lowest level link between the farmers and the institution, that is the training and visit structure is the village level extension worker. Each village level extension worker is supposed to plan his program. 14 days of tour program visiting different villages. And on 15th day he is reporting his agricultural extension officer for giving the feedback as well as for getting the information input in the form of training. And the cycle continues for another 14 days and again on the 15th day he is coming back. It means in a month of cycle he is visiting his super ordinates two times. Rest of the 28 days he is spending in the field. Similarly the next higher ups that is the agricultural extension officer is also having similar cycles of training as well as visit. He is providing the training to his subordinates and he is receiving the training from his superordinates and from the research system.

So this is how the cycle of field visits is scheduled. Everybody under this particular system, starting from VLW up to the head of the State that is the Director of Extension under this model. So each and every officer has his own schedule of getting the training as well as visiting the fields. So that is why we say that there is time bound work. Then field and farmer orientation. Obviously when we look into the efforts that are taken up under training and visit system. So the total emphasis is on the farmer, for whom the entire mechanism is working and they are visiting their field. So that is how we can see the field and farmer orientation. And regular and continuous training each and every officer involved. May it be the lowest level officer like VLW or the highest level officer like the State head, the Director of Agriculture of a particular State. Both of them, means all of them are getting regular training at regular intervals depending on the needs of that particular State, district or region what they are covering upon.

Then linkages with the research. So this is the one of the beauty of this particular program, which was lacking in many of the other extension programs, which were implemented before training and visit system. How did they establish the linkage with the research? In every State Agricultural University, we find a Directorate of Extension. Under the Directorate of Extension we have one staff training unit. And there in different States the nomenclature may change. But the unit remains, wherein the staff of the Department of Agriculture working in different capacities. Not only the Department of Agriculture. All the line departments like Department of Agriculture, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry, Forestry, Sericulture. All these people in different capacities. May it be the village level extension worker, the agricultural extension officer, the director of agriculture, the block level incharges like assistant director of agriculture, the deputy director. All these people are getting the training at regular intervals by the researchers of the respective State Agricultural Universities under the Directorate of Extension. And there is harmonious relationship between the State Agricultural Universities and other research institutions and the State Department of Agriculture. So that the forward as well as backward linkages are established with the because the professionals who are attending the training are giving good number of problems to the researchers, and that becomes an input for the researchers to take up the further research activities and in the subsequent training programs the solutions for those problems will be provided by the researchers. And this is how so they establish the forward as well as the backward linkages with the research system.

So this is the typical administrative structure that was evolved under the training and visit system. The farmers at the lowest level. And among the farmers because it becomes very difficult for even the village level extension worker to visit each and every farmer and that is how they have established the concept of the contact farmer. For a group of every 10 farm families, so one person is identified as a contact farmer. He is going to take up the dissemination activities among the group of 10 farmers. And the village level extension worker is visiting that particular farmer who is acting as a contact farmer.(8:43)There are good number of farmers that depending upon the population identified as the contact farmers. Then this is what is the contact farmer that I was referring to. Then so the next level is the AAO or the Assistant Agriculture Officer or the Agriculture Extension Officer, the nomenclature varies from the State to State. Then so the Assistant Agriculture Officer, the Agriculture Extension Officers are controlled by Assistant Director of Agriculture at the block level or at the taluka level. Assistant Director of Agriculture, so that a range of Extension Officers are operating there. And this Assistant Agriculture Officer is supported by the Agricultural Officers who are coming under the line as a staff authority for providing them the information input.

And at the district level we have the District Agriculture Officer, who controls different blocks or tehsils under his district. And at the regional level combining 2 or 3 or 4 districts as the administrative set up by each and every State. So we have one Joint Director of Agriculture, who is taking care of the needs of his group of districts. May be he is covering 4 or 5 or 6 districts under his administrative control. And at the top at the State level, we have the Director of Agriculture. So the administrative mechanism that was evolved under the training and visit system, each and every officer has a specific role to play. As we have said it starts from the village level extension worker, who establishes the linkage between the farmers and the government. Then he is being controlled by the Agricultural Extension Officer. The Extension Officers are being controlled by the Assistant Director of Agriculture. The Assistant Directors are controlled by the district heads, like the Deputy Director of agriculture or District Agriculture Officer. This District Agriculture Officers are being controlled by the Joint Director Agriculture in a commissionery and the chain continues.

Now with a beautiful administrative structure and the services that are being provided to the farmers with this structure. So the some limitations of training and visit system that were observed over a period of time include. The first and foremost limitation that was observed was. It is a staff intensive program and because of that it suffered in places where the adequate staff is not in a position. Because it is a typical government structure, wherein we develop the administrative mechanism. If for any reason the positions are vacant, as long as it is not filled. So there is vacancy and people are facing the problems accordingly. Then except crop production any crop husbandry, other enterprises remain untouched upon these thing and to overcome this over a period of time, other line departments were established and administrative mechanisms were also developed.

Then in States having the separate directorate of horticulture, soil conservation etc. The flow of information in these areas was scanty. Because it is there was a cycle of 14 days, monthly visit, fortnightly visit. So that made the scanty flow of information, because in a 15 days, what type of new information that the officers can take to the farmers. But as per the mechanism they have to go to the farmers. They have to visit them. They have to provide them the appropriate information. So that was another lacuna. Information flow to the farmers was of routine type. Because they were facing the similar problems, but may be the research system was not coming out with that regular outputs. Or the same type of information that is being provided over a period of time. So that was observed under training and visit system. Then emphasis was on the technology but very little emphasis was given on the extension methods. We have seen this type of observations in the evaluation of various other programs also.

The extension professionals are overloaded with the technology. But the techniques related to extension, the skills related to extension were lacking with most of the extensions professionals. Because of that they are not able to interact with the people. They are not able to stimulate the group action. They are not able to stimulate the participation among the farming community. So that is why that should be taken care of. Except the personal contact method, the other extension methods and aids were not used into practice. This point we have already said about. Because there was lack of emphasis on the extension technology or the extension methodologies, Because of that only limited use of the extension methods was used. And that is how it created a monotonous flow of information among the farming community. The existing village leaders and the village institutions were neglected under this program, because it was a typical government extension program, wherein they implemented the program as per the government guidelines. But the existing village leadership, the traditional village leadership started feeling that we are not being given due emphasis.

Then lack of adequate interaction with between the contact farmer and other farmers was another important problem. And the visit of the village level extension worker and various other officers to the contact farmers created a kind of jealousy among the fellow farmers. Because the entire machinery was visiting a group of farmers who are acting as a contact farmer. Rest of the farmers started feeling that we are being neglected, we are being isolated from that particular group. And that is another lacuna which was taken care of in due course of time. Then United Nations Development Program in 1990 enlisted some of the weaknesses as reported by G.L. Ray, in line with the evaluation report of what we have already discussed. The limited use of mass media was hindering the effectiveness specially in reaching women and other small farmers. So in those days of early 1970’s, the media, the social media or the revolution in case of information communication technologies was not much. The limited use of media, specially for disseminating the agriculture technologies was not given due emphasis. But over a period of time it came into the net.

Limited or no client involvement in the program development is one of the major issue of training and visit system. Because without involvement of the farmers the programs were developed. And we can say that basically this training and visit system adopted the top down model rather than the bottom up model. And because of that maybe the lack of participation was there. Recurrent cost problems that becomes serious when the donor funding terminates, and it happened with the training and visit system also. Till early 1990’s there was flow of fund from the World Bank to support this training and visit system. But in the early 90’s World Bank withdrew its support and the entire extension mechanism at the State levels in different parts of the country faced a severe situations, because of the lack of financial resources. Because the model itself was having staff intensive program. But over a period of time it suffered because of lack of financial support. Then weak links with the research. Lack of adequate subject matter specialists. And frequently resulting in lack of appropriate technologies. So these were some of the other issues that were observed in different parts of the country as reported by United Nations.

Then coming to the conclusion, extension is a continuous process. Change is inevitable in extension methodologies but the processes remain same. Over a period of time with the change in technology, the agriculture technology, the communication technology, the diffusion processes. There might be some changes in the methodological aspects of transfer of technology. But the core issues remain same. Then looking into the technological advancement, needs of the people, ability to access the technologies, skill in accessing the technologies etc. The factors, extension will be modifying its mode of delivery for the target communities. So that is how we can achieve the desired changes in the farming community. With this we are coming to the close of discussion on the training and visit system. In the next class we will be discussing about a range of programs leading towards the innovations. And innovations in extension as well as in development.

Thank You.