Agricultural Extension in India

Ruffling through the documents, magazines, newspapers, websites and what not, it would be appropriate to conclude that agriculture does not fall under any major national or economic interests.

The term agricultural extension , is widely used to describe any scientific development in the field of agriculture through farmer education.It also includes disseminating information regarding communication, business or research to inculcate productive growth. Our country which still sustains primarily on agriculture , lacks extensive development in terms of higher productivity for the farmers.

These issues are also fairly sidelined by the media. Rural reporting often restricts to the dire wretched plight faced by 'them'. The only visible reportage comes in terms of feature stories of  suicides by poverty stricken farmers.Barely any private media organisation works with the agricultural sector of the country. It is as if their condition is legitimate.Hence, it does not fail to appall me that the occupation that sustains 58.4% of our population , contributes only 17.2% towards the GDP of the entire economy.

 Most extension schemes have failed to prosper as an alternative to sustain agriculture as a dependable occupation. Most immigrant seasonal laborers are a result of this phenomenon. The reason for failure of these programs is usually lack of infrastructure, qualified personnels to educate them.

Besides that , no other widespread programs have helped agriculture overall.Such slackened efforts are usually the result of the sidelined group of a society who are not well-equipped to support themselves. Nor are the essential means to uplift them are practiced.

Not only has the government failed to integrate agriculture to sustain and provide decent livelihood through it, we have successfully ignored their importance into our social system. Instead of seeing agriculture as a defunct in the hierarchy, if we see it as a part of our country's development structure, we will be assured of a steadier and a more uniform growth.