Agricultural extension reforms: lessons from India

This chapter examines the current state of agricultural extension reforms and their linkages to the agricultural research system reforms in India and identifies the policy options and strategic priorities for making it relevant, responsive, and efficient. It explores how the National Agriculture Research Systems (NARS) responded with its own set of reforms that were sought to increase its relevance and its linkages to the extension system reforms. It also provides an assessment of the organizational performance of the major public-sector policy reforms in the agricultural extension—the Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) model—using the case studies of seven districts in four Indian states (Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu), located in different agro-ecological zones of the country