Privatising Agricultural Extension in India

The role of extension systems in transferring technologies to farmers has been fairly well acknowledged. Improving its performance continues to be a challenge, though the country has experimented with several new approaches in the last five decades. The performance of public sector extension is under scrutiny for quite some time and questions are being raised on its capability to deliver goods in the rapidly changing environment. The need for involving NGO's, private sector and farmers' associations in sharing, augmenting and supplementing public sector extension efforts is being increasingly recognised. The depleting fiscal support and concerns for operational efficiency have been forcing governments to look for new institutional arrangements for providing extension services. Alternatives such as contracting out (services to private/voluntary sector) cost recovery, cost sharing with user groups and privatisation were experimented in many countries. The feasibility of these options in the Indian context depends upon the existing status of different agencies involved and on the willingness of farmers to pay for services. This policy paper is the outcome of the study conducted at NCAP to look into the various aspects of privatisation of farm extension in India.