(a) Critically examine the major extension programmes of agricultural sector in India. Suggest different measures to improve…

(a) Major agricultural extension programmes and measures to improve technology adoption

Indian extension moved from the centralised, top-down Training and Visit (T&V) system (1970s) to Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs, 1974), the Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA, 2005), the National Mission on Agricultural Extension and Technology, ICT services such as Kisan Call Centres, and Agri-Clinics and Agribusiness Centres. KVKs provide front-line demonstrations and training; ATMA brought district-level convergence and farmer participation.

Critically, public extension is constrained by shortage of field staff and a high farmer-to-worker ratio, low reach among marginal and tenant farmers, neglect of women farmers despite the feminisation of agriculture, weak research-extension-farmer linkage, and a supply-driven, target-based approach. Private extension is agile but serves better-endowed farmers.

Measures: shift to demand-driven, participatory methods such as Farmer Field Schools and farmer-participatory research; FPO-led extension giving context-specific advice; digital platforms such as Kisan Sarathi, AI-based diagnostics and WhatsApp advisories for hyper-local weather and pest information; trained women extension workers and Krishi Sakhis; strengthened KVKs and agricultural universities; and farmer-to-farmer and video-based extension. Adoption also needs credit, inputs and assured markets alongside advice.

(b) Agricultural price policy: success, failure and recent changes

The Agricultural Prices Commission (1965, now the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices) and the Food Corporation of India (1965) began a price-support and procurement system with MSP, first for wheat, in 1966-67.

Success: assured prices and procurement encouraged adoption of high-yielding varieties during the Green Revolution, delivered food self-sufficiency, built buffer stocks for the public distribution system and insulated farmers from price crashes.

Failures: procurement and benefits are concentrated in a few crops (wheat and rice) and States (Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and parts of other States), distorting cropping patterns and depleting groundwater; pulses, oilseeds and coarse cereals were neglected; open-ended procurement created stock overhang and fiscal burden; and many farmers, especially small ones, never sold at MSP.

Recent initiatives: announcement of MSP at 1.5 times A2+FL cost (Budget 2018-19); PM-AASHA (2018) with Price Support, Price Deficiency Payment and Private Procurement Stockist pilots, and Haryana's and Madhya Pradesh's price-deficiency models; e-NAM (2016) for transparent price discovery; PM-KISAN (2019) income support of ₹6,000 a year; and the 2020 farm laws on trade, contract farming and stock limits, repealed in 2021 after protests, which left the MSP framework as it was.

(c) Value addition of forest products

Value addition means converting raw non-timber forest produce (NTFP) into processed, graded and branded products so that gatherers capture more of the final price. Examples: bamboo into furniture, flooring, composite boards and handicrafts; lac into refined shellac and seed-lac; honey cleaned, filtered and packed; medicinal and aromatic plants dried, powdered or extracted for Ayurvedic supply chains; tendu leaf, sal seed, mahua and tamarind graded and processed; and gum and resin refined.

Benefits are higher local income, year-round tribal and forest-fringe employment, reduced distress sale and less pressure on forests. Support comes through Van Dhan Vikas Kendras (2018, TRIFED), the MSP for Minor Forest Produce scheme, the Forest Act amendment (2017) exempting bamboo grown outside forests from tree-felling rules, the National Bamboo Mission, SFURTI clusters, and FPOs and self-help groups for aggregation and marketing.