Agriculture and Agricultural Extension
This domain tests both production facts and the extension machinery that moves technology from research stations to farmers' fields.
Production base
- Madhya Pradesh is the leading producer of soybean and gram, and a leading producer of garlic, pulses and wheat.
- Rabi occupies the largest cropped area; the Malwa plateau is the wheat-soybean belt, Nimar the cotton belt and Balaghat the rice belt.
Extension institutions
- Krishi Vigyan Kendra, first set up at Puducherry in 1974, works at district level for training and front-line demonstrations.
- ATMA is a registered society at district level for decentralised, farmer-driven extension; it works through FIAC, BTT and SAMETI at state level.
- Kisan Call Centre 1800-180-1551, DD Kisan and e-NAM complete the information chain.
Methods and adoption
Individual methods (farm visit, office call) reach few farmers and suit early decisions; group methods (method demonstration, result demonstration, field day, farmers' training) are best for teaching skills; mass methods (radio, TV, print, exhibition) create awareness cheaply. Rogers' adoption categories are innovators 2.5%, early adopters 13.5%, early majority 34%, late majority 34% and laggards 16%.
Worked example
A village has 240 farm families and 36 adopted a new variety after the first demonstration. Adoption = 36/240 x 100 = 15%, which places them in the early-adopter band. That group becomes the local proof used for the next round of demonstrations.
Traps
- Classifying result demonstration as a mass method; it is a group method.
- Describing ATMA as a government department rather than a district-level society.
- Confusing Rogers' national adoption percentages with one village's measured adoption rate.