THE MILLION FARMERS’ SCHOOL & DIGITAL EXTENSION INITIATIVE NATIONAL RABI WORKSHOP NEW DELHI, 20TH SEPTEMBER’19 AMIT MOHAN PRASAD PRINCIPAL SECRETARY, AGRICULTURE Govt. of Uttar Pradesh

The Idea To double the farmers’ income, three things are needed Reduce the cost of cultivation, increase the production and obtain the rice price for the farmers Technology has a crucial role to play in all the three Extension is the main vehicle for taking new technology to the field Therefore, we must focus on agriculture extension in order to enhance productivity, production, market linkages and farmer’s income

Agriculture Extension There is a separate programme called National Mission on Agriculture Extension and Technology (NMAET) Under this, Agriculture Technology Management Agency (ATMA) is tasked to carry out extension work Every programme like NFSM or BGREI or NMAET has a component of demonstration in farmers’ fields However, extension has remained the weakest area in agriculture and input management has gained supremacy

Extension in Campaign Mode The idea was developed during an interaction with the farmers at Mathura The cascade model of training was used to train the trainers A module of one hour per day for five days was thought of Course content was designed and finalized State level officers functioned as KRPs and prepared district level Master Trainers through VC Master Trainers trained the Trainers (TA/BTM/ATM) at the KVKs and other centres

The Course Content Day 1: Rabi crops, Soil health and Crop cycle Day 2: Agriculture Inputs, Animal Husbandry, Dairy and Fisheries Day 3: Prime Minister Fasli Bima Yojana; Various subsidies under different schemes Day 4: Raising Farmer’s Income; Agriculture diversification and Horticulture Day 5: Plant Protection, Online registration of farmers and Direct Benefit Transfer

Current Design The module has been converted into a four day programme with one and half hours every day Convergence with other allied departments is the big focus now Staff of Horticulture and Animal Husbandry Department collaborates In the fourth edition (June 2019) technical staff of sugar cane department participated actively The confidence of farmers on this system of extension has increased gradually

The Launch Launched on the 5th of December by Hon’ble Chief Minister

Running of Modules It is launched with a lot of fan fair across the state Public representatives participate in the launch with great enthusiasm Entire development administration comes out in support of this programme anchored by Agriculture Department Four editions completed; more than 4 million farmers trained so far and counting……. Cascade model of training is used for trainers’ training Each farmer gets a free copy of the module

The Training Paradigm Use of technology is a major feature of the training programme (AV, NIC, live streaming…) Random number technique used for knowledge test………App for attendance of farmers While information and knowledge of farmers about the better practices, better varieties etc is going up, the spin off has been the capacity building of our own staff There can be no better method to build the capacity of the field staff Participation of women farmers is a heartening feature.

Digital Extension Initiative Vaigyanikon Ki Baat, Kisaano ke Saath This experiment was done on the 4th of June The video conferencing facility across the state set up by NIC was utilised At the State Level Centre, Hon’ble Minister, top agricultural scientists and senior officers of agriculture and allied depts were present These came from ICAR, CIMMYT, Basmati Foundation, State Agriculture Universities and State Government Departments Resources from SAUs and KVKs were widely used for this

Vaigyanikon ki Baat….. Apart from the scientists, we had two progressive farmers also at the State HQ Shri Ram Saran Verma and Shri Bharat Bhushan Tyagi have been awarded Padma Sri this year for farming At the district level centres, progressive farmers and departmental officers were made to sit Therefore, this was a two way communication where the scientists and farmers were able to interact

Digital Extension…. Topics are selected carefully, according to the time of the year and audience Latest edition was on 11th of September, focused on women farmers; Sudha Pande and Biatana Devi were star speakers Presence of renowned scientists is an attraction for the farmers in the NIC halls as well as the villages Entire program is live streamed which can be seen by farmers in the villages and elsewhere

Viewing in the Villages

Viewing (continued…)

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Impact Assessment of TMFS IFPRI recently did an impact assessment of TMFS and found statistically significant difference in knowledge level of farmers! Their findings include (other benefits): Enhanced job satisfaction among employees Enhanced capacity of employees Better communication established between farmer and department

Thank You!