1. Public- Private Partnership inPublic- Private Partnership in
Extension: ATMA ExperienceExtension: ATMA Experience
Dr.K.M.SinghDr.K.M.Singh
Director,Director,
State Agricultural Management and Extension TrainingState Agricultural Management and Extension Training
Institute, BiharInstitute, Bihar
National Agriculture Summit 2006, 18-19 October 2006,National Agriculture Summit 2006, 18-19 October 2006,
Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, IndiaVigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, India
Organized by Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture,Organized by Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture,
Government of India and Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and IndustryGovernment of India and Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(FICCI)(FICCI)

2. Challenges before Extension SystemChallenges before Extension System
 Food and nutritional security
 Poverty alleviation
 Diversifying market demand, & export
opportunities
 Linkages between producers and consumers of
these products
 Sustainable NRM
 Funding extension

3. System Constraints in Extension
 Extension programs top-down
 Supply–driven and not Market–driven
 Extension not accountable to farmers
 Inadequate technical & managerial capacity
 No formal mechanisms to empower farmers
 Weak private sector involvement in extension
 Weak R-E-F-M linkages

4. Key Elements of the New Strategy
 Shift from food security to diversifying into high-
value products
 Farmers organized, trained and linked to these
new domestic and international markets
 Implementing organization pilot tested under
NATP was the Agricultural Technology
Management Agency or “ATMA”

5. ATMA was the Mechanism UsedATMA was the Mechanism Used
to Decentralize Extension:to Decentralize Extension:
Critical to a Building “Market-Driven” Extension SystemCritical to a Building “Market-Driven” Extension System
 Regional and urban market opportunities tend
to be “location-specific;” therefore,
 Extension planning must be “bottom-up!”
 NATP replaced with “Support to State
Extension Programmes for Extension
Reforms” by the Govt. of India
 Coverage extended to 252 districts

6. Steps in Implementing the Strategy
• Conduct PRA
• Develop Strategic Research and Extension Plan
– Identify and evaluate “Success Stories”
– Determine most promising products/markets
• Organize farmers into groups
– Farmer Interest Groups (FIGs) at village level & Farmer
Associations (FAs) at block, district & state levels
– Farmer leaders are critical to the success of FIGs
– Exposure visits and demonstrations are used to motivate
FIG members.
• Investigate markets to identify interested
manufacturers or wholesale markets (i.e., avoid traders;
shorten the supply chain to avoid middlemen.)

7. Implementing the Strategy (cont.)
 Collaborate with research (e.g. SAUs or KVKs) to
develop and test production and post-harvest
technologies and then train FIG members to
produce to contract specifications.
 Public-Private Partnerships are emphasized at
block level; emphasis is on “contract farming”
between FIGs and companies.
 Many companies have entered in contractual
production of high value crops like aromatic crops,
exotic vegetables, organic farming

8. Building Social CapitalBuilding Social Capital
VIS-À-VIS MARKET DEVELOPMENTVIS-À-VIS MARKET DEVELOPMENT
Two basic types:
Bonding
Research &
Extension
Bridging
Local Markets
Urban Markets
Global Markets
FIG
FIG
FIG
FIG
Farmer Federation
FIG
FIG
FIG
FIG
FIG
FIG
FIG
FIG
FIG
FIG
FIG
FIG
Farmer Association
FIG
Slide by Burt Swanson

9. And honey And mushroomsI.e., Building social capital
Organizing Farmers into Commodity-Organizing Farmers into Commodity-
Based Farmer AssociationsBased Farmer Associations
Extension specialists teach women’s groups to produce high-value crops

10. Impact of this ATMA Model of Extension onImpact of this ATMA Model of Extension on
Crop Diversification and Farm IncomesCrop Diversification and Farm Incomes
(Average changes in production area and income in 28 project
districts between 1999-2004; IIM Lucknow data)
 Horticultural Crops: 12  16%
 Oil Seeds: 3  11%
 Herbs and Medicinal Crops: 1  5%
 Sericulture: 0  1%
 Area planted to cereals declined: 55  47%, but
yields increased 14%
 During this period, average farm income increased
24% in project districts in contrast with only 5% in non-
project districts

11. Conclusion: Key Elements of this NewConclusion: Key Elements of this New
Extension StrategyExtension Strategy
• Refocus some research and extension resources to
high-value crops/products, including market
assessment
• Decentralize extension planning and decision-making;
begin by focusing on local and regional market
opportunities.
• Empowering Farmers — organize and train farmers so
they can link to high-value markets; they must get
organized to achieve economies of scale and to
increase market power.

12. Experiences of
ATMA, Patna

13. Using Private Sector and NGOs for Extension
Private Sector Companies:
• Confederation of Indian Industry, Bihar Industries Association
• Baidyanath Ayurved Bhawan, Patna, Fragrance Herbs, Patna
• Ayurved Shri Herbals Ltd., Patna, Pamer Agro Ventures (P) Ltd.
• Amrapali Foods, Ltd., Patna, Samrat Mushrooms, Patna
• Micro Tech Nutracueticals, Patna, Raj Agrico, Patna NGOs
NGO:
• DOLPHEN, Patna
• Adarsh Gramin Vikas Sanstha, Patna
• Prem Youth Foundation, Patna
• RP Channel-5 Vitarani Krishak Samiti, Bikram
• Paliganj Vitarani Krishak Samiti, Paliganj
• Manjhauli Vitarani Krishak Samiti, Naubatpur
• Nari Gunjan, Patna
• Mahila Bal Jyoti Kendra , Katesar, Bihta

14. Partnership with Private Sector

15. Promoting Farmer to Farmer ExtensionPromoting Farmer to Farmer Extension
Training and deploying farmer resource personsTraining and deploying farmer resource persons
1. Sri Ajay Kumar Diversification in Agriculture
2. Sri Krishna Prasad Marketing of Aromatic Oils and Medicinal Plants
3. Sri G.N. Sharma Medicinal Plants cultivation
4. Sri Ajay Prakash Aromatic Plants cultivation
5. Sri Vijay Kumar Medicinal Plants Conservation
6. Sri Ashok Kumar Singh Mushroom Production
7. Sri Ramjeet Sharma Vermi Compost
8. Sri Samarendra Kumar Floriculture and Exotic Veg.
9. Sri Sanat Kumar Organic farming/ Diversification
10. Sri Bageshwari Pd. Singh Zero Tillage
11. Sri Sudhanshu Singh Seed Production
12. Dr. Anand Sharma Input Supply & Aromatic Plants
13. Sri Pappu Singh Commercial Floriculture
14. Sri Raju Kumar Lal Medicinal Plants
15. Sri Anil Kumar Singh IPM and INM
16. Sri Kumar Siddhartha Mushroom (Oyster)
17. Sri Kaushal Kumar Mentha & Aromatic Plants
18. Sri Hare Krishna Goat Rearing
19. Sri Indrajeet Singh Organic & Exotic Vegetables
20. Sri Vibhesh Kumar Group formation
21. Sri Vimlesh Kr. Singh Agro processing
22. Sri Ranjeet Kumar Zero Tillage in Pulses
23. Sri Arun Singh Manufacture& Marketing of Organic manure

16. Preparation of Directory of Service Providers and its
release by Secretary (A & C), Govt. of India

17. Other Public-Private Partnership
Initiatives
Between medicinal plant growers of Patna and
M/s. Baidyanath Ayurved Bhawan
Buy-back Arrangement for Mushrooms
Agreement to Buy Fresh Organically Produced
Vegetables with M/s. Raj Agrico.
Contract Between M/s. fragrance Herbs, and
FIG Members to Produce Essential Oils
Baby corn buyback with M/s. Amrapali Foods
Ltd.

18. Other Field Outreach Activities
 Promotion of Agri Clinics & Agri Business
Centres
 Technical publications in local language
 Video films developed with help of private sector
 Success stories used as role models for extension
 Cyber marketing support to farmers with the help
of private entrepreneurs
 Networking with organizations working in the field
of extension
 Constant capacity building of stakeholders
 Gender issues given due priority

19. Process Interventions by ATMA
• ATMA Single Window delivery point for Technology.
• Diversification dictated by market demand.
• Judicious Use of Mass media.
• R-E-F-M linkages strengthened with primary focus on
farmer.
• Revitalizing the farmers through capacity building,
• Using farmers, Para-professionals and private
entrepreneurs as Extension Agents.
• Group focus in all the interventions.
• Effective use of NGO’s, & private sector.
• Sustainability given due importance, with cost sharing
being the key word in most of the interventions.

20. ATMA Model : LessonsATMA Model : Lessons LearntLearnt
 Autonomy, financial flexibility and direct funding
resulted in better outcome.
 Better coordination, Convergence, pooling of
resources
 Integrated delivery of demand driven extension.
 Priority settings through the farmers involvement
(SREP , GB and FIAC).
 Strong R-E-F-M Linkage.
 ATMA an effective platform for PPP.
 SREP as a tool for bottom-up planning
 Capacity building through need-based trainings,
exposure visits, demonstrations, etc.

21. THANKTHANK
SS