Module 3 - India: A Decentralized, Market-Driven Approach to Agricultural Extension

The move from a long-standing policy of food security to a strategy that focuses on agricultural diversification aimed at increasing farm income and rural employment carries implicit risks for small-scale farm households that are expected to benefit from this approach. The ATMA director and other agricultural leaders within each district need to continually assess the district’s comparative and competitive advantage in producing different high-value crops and products. There will be continuing instances of overproduction of commodities, which will result in falling prices; these problems cannot be avoided, but they can be mitigated by maintaining a diversified portfolio of commodities, products, and enterprises within each district and continuing to seek out new markets and opportunities. In the final analysis, the most critical output of this decentralized, market-driven extension strategy will be that farmers will learn new technical, managerial, and organizational skills that will be passed on to the next generation of rural people as they seek employment outside of production agriculture.

For more detailed information on the ATMA approach, see the Good Practice Paper prepared by J.P. Singh, B.E. Swanson and K.M. Singh, entitled “Developing a Decentralized, Market-Driven Extension System in India: The ATMA Model.”