COTTON TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMME FOR AFRICA

Transcription

1 COTTON TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMME FOR AFRICA Training Programme on New Dimensions in Agricultural Extension Management for Extension Functionaries September 2012 MANAGE, Hyderabad, India Programme Implementing Agencies 1

2 Background The changing economic scenario and the emerging market opportunities due to market liberalization and export orientation have posed new challenges to the entire agricultural value chain and the extension systems that support them. Future growth in agriculture has to be generated through improvements in productivity of diversified farming systems with regional specialization, linking production to marketing, farm level agro-processing and value addition and aggregating small-holding farmers through farmers organizations. To meet these demands, it is necessary to re-orient agricultural extension systems so they become decentralized, demand driven, farm business oriented and involve multiple actors both in the public and private sectors. India has had success in re-orienting its extension system through the Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) and further strengthened by Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) under Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). The private sector and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have increased their role in providing extension services. These experiences and new approaches are expected to have relevance for other developing countries as they work to increase agricultural productivity. Accordingly, the agricultural training will be based on successful public and private sector experiences in India that have increased agricultural productivity through alternative, modern extension systems. MANAGE was established by the Government of India under the Public Societies Registration Act as an autonomous institution under the Ministry of Agriculture in MANAGE has been offering specialized training, education, research and information services in the fields of agricultural extension management for the last 25 years and has a good track record of successful program implementation. MANAGE is actively involved in developing linkages 2

3 with prominent state, regional, national and international institutions involved in agricultural extension management for promoting faculty exchanges, organizing need based trainings and is engaged by the Government of India for its global outreach activities for training international agriculture professionals on agricultural extension management. The programme will be conducted at National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE), Hyderabad, India. Important objectives of the programme are as follows: A. Objectives: 1. To develop a common understanding of the concept and need and content of extension in the present context of development 2. To develop an understanding of the organizational arrangements and modalities of operation of the existing extension systems 3. To orient the participants to the new and emerging approaches to extension management 4. To facilitate the participants in developing alternative extension systems in their countries 5. To develop an action plan for operationalisation of the concepts and systems. B. Contents: The course would cover: a. Organization and management of extension services in developing countries: Experience sharing by the participants on organizational pattern and other details along with strengths and weaknesses. 3

4 b. Extension management: Emerging concept of extension management, extension planning and implementation process, types of extension services, need and focus of extension in the context of globalization. c. Decentralized extension delivery system: Indian experiences on operationalisation of ATMA model of extension, organizational arrangements, integrated delivery of services, focus on process issues and participatory planning and implementation of programmes. d. Strategic planning for agricultural development: Focus on developing comprehensive strategic plans for agricultural development in the district covering aspects related to research, extension, input arrangements, marketing, capacity building etc. e. Public-private partnership: Promotion of public private partnership models and methodologies to support the developmental initiatives of the major extension system at district level. Focus on setting up of institutional mechanism to involve private sector personnel like NGOs, private organizations, agri-clinics and farm consultants to support extension services. f. Promotion of farmers groups and organizations: To facilitate farmers access to new technologies, markets and get the benefit of scale of operation, promotion of farmers interest groups, commodity interest groups, women interest groups and farmers organizations or federations as a strategy needs to be promoted. g. Process Documentation: Documentation is an essential skill for extension worker. This skill is useful in documentation and dissemination of success stories in extension to motivate the farmers towards adopting latest technologies h. Market led extension: Due to the changing pattern of demands emerging from the various markets, it is necessary to dovetail the 4

5 focus of extension for meeting the emerging market needs and guiding farmers to operate a demand driven production system. i. Participatory planning and management: Extension basically addresses the needs of the farmers groups. As such, the planning and management of the development programmes should ensure the participation of local stakeholders like farmers, extension personnel and other service providers. This supports strengthening of linkages of service providers at the operational level. j. Farmer to farmer extension: The concept aims at involving progressive farmers as change agents to disseminate the technologies. Various approaches such as Farmer Field Schools, Farm Schools, Farm Leaders etc., found to be cost and time effective in extension delivery mechanism. k. Gender Mainstreaming in Extension: Participation of women in agriculture is a natural process in developing countries. However, focus on gender specific development initiatives need to be consciously introduced for mainstreaming gender in extension. l. Promotion of Agri-Enterprises: Agri Enterprises ensure inputs, infrastructure facilities and other services required for the farmers. Agri Enterprises use the local resources and creates self-employment opportunities for the rural youth and farmwomen. Such enterprises need to be promoted through extension activities. m. Information and communication technology: Integration of ICT tools and techniques such as telephones, Internet, info kiosks, touch screen technology, kisan call centre, tele conferencing, and video conferencing. n. Climate change and Agriculture: The impacts of climate change on agriculture will vary over time and across locations, depending on different agro-eco systems, farming systems and production conditions. Likewise, strategies and measures for coping and those 5

6 impacts will need to be adjusted to the variable circumstances of farmers in diverse agro-ecological situations. o. Field study visits to study ATMAs / KVKs: Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) is emerging as field laboratories for operationalizing various strategic interventions in extension management. A study of the ATMA system in operation would help understand its field application and provide first hand experience of operationalizing the decentralized systems. Similarly visits will be organized to Krishi Vigyan Kendra s to understand their organization structure and functions. Besides, visit will be organized to Central Institute of Cotton Research, Nagpur to study innovations in extension around cotton crop. p. Action planning for back at work situation: Considering the orientation and experiences provided, the participants are expected to develop an action plan for work operationalizing the relevant concepts in their own country in the back at situation. This would help to transfer the learnings for application in different countries. C. Methodology: The methodology followed in the programme will be highly participatory. Each delegate has to contribute ideas and also in undertaking activities. There would be a greater focus on group work. The delegates will work in small groups to undertake various tasks allotted to them. The delegates will learn from their own experiences in the groups, from the experiences in the field, trainers apart from the past experiences. As such, experiential learning methodology is effectively incorporated in the programme. Apart from this, lectures, group discussions, case studies and field visits are a part of the training activity. Each delegate will have the opportunity to present the present system of extension and their experiences in their own country. 6

7 D. Duration and Dates: The duration of the programme would be 15 days. The programme would be held during 10 th 24 th September E. Venue: The programme would be conducted in National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE) campus at Hyderabad. It will be fully residential. 7

8 TENTATIVE PROGRAMME SCHEDULE Day 1: 10 th September 2012 (Monday) 1 Registration 2 Opening Session / Inauguration 3 Organization and Management of Extension Systems & Services - Experience sharing Participants 1 Agricultural Extension Management An Overview Dr.P. Chandrashekara 2 Visit to MANAGE Facilities APRO Day 2: 11 th September 2012 (Tuesday) 1 Decentralized extension delivery systems Concept Dr. S. Senthil Vinayagam 2 Decentralized extension delivery systems Institutional Mechanism Dr. S. Senthil Vinayagam 1 Strategic Planning for Agricultural Development Strategic Research Extension Plan (SREP) Strategic Planning for Agricultural Development Comprehensive District Agricultural Plan (CDAP) Dr. P. Chandra Shekara Dr. P. Chandra Shekara 1 PRE-DINNER SESSION Back at Work Plan Preparation Dr. Vikram Singh 8

9 Day 3: 12 th September 2012 (Wednesday) 1 Orientation on Concepts of Farmer to Farmer Extension : Farm School and Farmer Field School (FFS) 2 Group Based Extension Systems (Promotion of Farmers Groups and Organizations) 1 Visit to village Interaction with farmers on FFS and Farmers Organizations Dr.P. Chandrashekara & Dr. Venkat Reddy Dr. B. Renuka Rani Dr. Venkat Reddy / PD, ATMA (RR Dist) Day 4: 13 th September 2012 (Thursday) 1 Visit to Rythu Bazar to study Farmers Market Dr Venkat Reddy 1 Local Visits APRO Day 5: 14 th September 2012 (Friday) 1 Private Extension Services and Public Private Partnership in Dr. P. Chandra Shekara Extension 2 Market Led Extension Dr. S. Senthil Vinayagam 1 Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) Tools & Techniques 2 PRA Field Practicals 3 Departure for field tours at Central Institute for Cotton research (CICR), Nagpur (14 th to 19 th September) Dr. G Jaya Dr. G Jaya 9

10 Day 6: 15 th September 2012 (Saturday) 1 Programme at CICR, Nagpur Institutional Overview, Production Technology of Cotton, Visit to Field Trails in CICR Dr. K.R Kranthi Dr.Blaise Desouza Day 7: 16 th September 2012 (Sunday) 1 Field Visit to Wardha, State Department of Agriculture, Seed Production Plots, KVKs & State Farms Dr.Blaise Desouza Day 8: 17 th September 2012 (Monday) 1 Visit to Ginning Pressing Training Centre (CIRCOT), Spinning Mills, State Field Trails & National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning (NBSS&LUP) Day 9: 18 th September 2012 (Tuesday) 1 Visit to NRC for Citrus/ Other institutions, Visit to Villages special programme of High Density Planting on Cotton & Front Line Demonstrations Day 10: 19 th September 2012 (Wednesday) 1 Departure to MANAGE, Hyderabad in forenoon & reaching Hyderabad Day 11: 20 th September 2012 (Thursday) 1 Mainstreaming Gender in Extension Dr.Uma Rani 2 Use of ICT in Agricultural Extension Dr.V.P.Sharma 1 Promotion of Agri-Enterprises Dr. P. Chandra Shekara 2 Dr. Lakshmi Murthy Process Documentation 10

11 PRE-DINNER SESSION 1 Climate Change in Agriculture Dr. N. Balasubramani Day 12: 21 st September 2012 (Friday) 1 Visit to ICRISAT 1 Cotton Marketing System in Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) Visit to KVK, CRIDA Day 13: 22 nd September 2012 (Saturday) 1 National Agricultural Research Systems and Visit to NAARM & EEI Dr. Bharat Sontakki 1 Visit to Rural Technology Park, NIRD Dr. S. Senthil Vinayagam Day 14 : 23 rd September 2012 (Sunday) 1 Visit to Ramoji Film City APRO Day 15: 24 th September 2012 (Monday) 1 Presentation of Country Papers Participants 2 Course Evaluation & Valediction 1 Departure to respective countries Participants 11