Indian Agricultural has come a long way through, almost parallel to Indian civilization. The simple self contained family pursuit is now enormously externalized. As the invention of “Wheel” paved a way for industrial revolution, so is the invention of 1st agricultural implement i.e. “Plough” in agriculture, for improved and scientific agriculture.

The department of agriculture established in 1881 formulated various projects for research and extension to improve the standard of life of farmers. Post independent India between 1940 – 1970 attained self sufficiency in food production by extensively growing wheat and paddy. This was possible only because of the systematic transfer of technology to farming community by the extension service of the agriculture and rural development departments. The research, innovations and packages developed by the agricultural scientists for increasing production and productivity are transferred to the farming community so as to bring in the desirable changes in their knowledge attitude and behavior through extension network of the department agriculture for their overall and sustainable development. The forward and backward leakages are also taken care of – as the university of agricultural sciences other agricultural research stations allied line developmental departments, NGO’s, FIG’s & CIG’s are considered as partners and facilitators in this pursuit (Annexure -1). The department works on the 3 tire system i.e Zilla Panchayat, Taluk Panchayat & Village Panchayat.

The department of agriculture in Karnataka is all set to facilitate and support the farming community, specially the small, marginal, SC/ST segments, who are in sizable numbers for their overall and sustainable development. This facilitation has been the major objective of the department with the changing priorities of farming and also in mitigating the resultant consequences.

Changing priorities of farming:

1. Family farming : Initially it was a family pursuit and way of life
2. Surplus farming: to produce more and increase production to meet food security
3. Market farming: to meet family expenses and growing financial requirements
4. Commercial farming: due to liberalization, privatization & globalization the farming shifted to international market competition.

The resultant consequences are :

1. Dependency on external agricultural inputs
2. Monocroping
3. Intensive land use and neglect of soil and moisture conservation practices
4. Lack of natural resource management on farms
5. Low fertility level of soil
6. Hazards of excessive irrigation
7. Increasing resistance in insect pest against pesticides
8. Forgetting eco-friendly agriculture
9. Traditional and indigenous food crops such as Millets becoming extinct
10. Non adaptation of integrated farming systems

The task:

Over the years, to meet the changing needs of the farming and the farmers the department of agriculture is engaged in transfer of technology to bring in desirable changes.

To quote a few,

Earlier it was

• Grow more food campaign
• HYV programme
• Fertilizer promotion programme etc.

Now the thrust areas are :

1. Integrated farming system
2. Organic farming
3. Bho-Chetana
4. Improving the soil health and fertility
5. Production, distribution & use of certified seeds
6. Popularizing the use of bio-fertilizers, bio-pesticides, bio-cultures, soil amendments, micro nutrients, plant based pesticides etc.
7. Farm mechanization
8. Micro irrigation systems – Sprinkler and Drip irrigation
9. ATMA
10. NFSM
11. A3P
12. ISOPOM
13. INSIMP
14. Cotton Mini mission
15. RKVY
16. Crop Insurance
17. Post harvest technology
18. Supply of agricultural implements/PP equipments
19. Popularizing IPM/INM
20. Quality control of agricultural inputs
21. HRD through training and exposure visits

All these and various other schemes are formulated based on the farmer needs. Facilities / incentives / subsidies are provided to farmers through the Raita Samparka Kendra Staff (RSK) along with the technical know –how.

Crop demonstrations (Result demonstration & Method demonstration), exposure visits, field days, farmer scientist interactions, Kisan Goshtis, Training programmes, crop competitions, Krishi Pandit Awards, plant protection campaign etc. are organized to educate farmers.

Feed back:

The feedback received from the farmers is taken care of by addressing their problems in adoption of technology in a fortnightly workshop at taluka level and bi-monthly workshops at district level supported by the technical resource persons from the university of agricultural sciences besides making individual field visits by the extension staff.

Supporting organization:

The department is working in close liaison with the supporting organization such as KSSC, KSSCA, NSC, KOF, NABARD, Banks, marketing federations, input supplying institutions, Seed producers, APMC’s & other line developmental departments such as Zilla Panchayat, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry, Sericulture, KWDP, Fisheries, Forestry etc. as all these institutions work for the common cause of farmers welfare.

In conclusion, the department of agriculture is functioning as a connecting link between the new technology and its ultimate consumer (farmer), liaisening with other line developmental departments, through various extension services by effectively implementing programmes for overall and sustainable development of farming families.

Organizational Flow chart of Department of Agriculture in Karnataka

Maps