Public-Private Partnership for Convergence of Extension Services in Indian Agriculture

After Green revolution, Indian agriculture has seen a paradigm shift in technology development and dissemination. There is now an overflowing basket of goods and services ready to be served to the Indian farmers. But the traditional agricultural extension system designed to disseminate information and services to the farming community is not able to deliver as per expectations. This gap in demand and supply has lured private sector players to come in and explore the vast opportunities. The economic policies allow private extension agencies to capture the world's largest farming community and they have been very proactive. They supply quick, timely, efficient and appropriate services, making the traditional way of disseminating the technologies by public system seem even weaker. Though it is guided by profit motive, they serve the purpose of meeting the unmet needs of farmers in India. This situation has raised questions/doubts on the intention, policies, products they are promoting and the people they are targeting. At this juncture, the government has no option but to remain an active partner with private extension system. But it has a role to play in monitoring and controlling the quality of services and goods. Total privatization is not advisable for agriculture. So, for better utilization of scarce resources, there is a need to reduce the redundancy, repetition and to facilitate convergence and better linkage in this Public-Private Partnership. This article will focus on some essential factors that need to be considered.