Directorate General Agriculture Extension

Overview

Agricultural production is a very complex system. It depends on several inter-related components such as development of appropriate production technology, dissemination of modern technology to the end users, and the formulation of farmer-friendly agricultural policies.

Dissemination of appropriate technology to the farmers is of vital importance if benefit is to be derived from technological advances. Moreover, the gap exists between the research findings and farmers’ adoption needs appropriate rectification by the adaptive research. This task is carried out through agriculture extension system in Punjab.

Adaptive Research aims at devising site specific technology packages for increasing agricultural production. It helps to adjust the results of research into suitable form before transmitting it to the farmers, keeping in view their local agro-climatic and socio-economic conditions. It bridges up the gap between research findings and farmers’ achievements and extension. 

Background

Several extension approaches, designed primarily to improve the living standard of rural people through increased agricultural production and improved farm income, have been tried. During the last five decades, varying perspectives of agricultural extension have emerged. They include:

The Village Cooperative Movement

This movement started in the early 1950s under the umbrella of Cooperative Department. It proposes that all farmers in every village be united under the umbrella of the village cooperative societies and can choose their own management committees and find the means of their development on a cooperative basis. The primary thrust of this movement is to educate member farmers about new technologies and to arrange farm-input delivery on soft-term credit. However, the experience suggests that the cooperative movement has not been able to achieve a consistent success. Some places where local leadership and cooperative department staff have been sincere and effective, it has achieved good results. It has proven a good source of farm input supply and technology transfer to the small farmers at village level.

The Village Agricultural and Industrial Development Program (Village-AID)

The Village-AID Program began in Pakistan in 1952, with substantial help from USAID and Ford Foundation. This program sought to bring about all-round development of the villages through organizing village councils, building roads, digging wells, constructing schools, and disseminating improved agricultural technology. This program achieved a good deal of success in the beginning but became a victim of departmental jealousy and political change in the country. With the abolition of the Village-AID Program in 1961, rural development became a part of the Basic Democracies System (BDS).

The Basic Democracies System (BDS)

Phased in 1959, this system was designed to bring together both the elements of community development and political development, especially at the local level. The government administrative and development tiers were organized into five levels where the union council, a group of 3-5 villages, was the lowest tier. The councils undertook a variety of social and economic development work in their respective areas. The problems union councils tried to solve were in the realm of education, infrastructure, agriculture, and sanitation. The BDS went a long way in developing awareness and building local leadership among the rural masses. The BDS also met the same fate as its predecessor program. The change in the government in 1970 saw the abolition of the BDS and introduction of a new rural development approach, the Integrated Rural Development Program (IRDP).

Integrated Rural Development Program (IRDP)

In early 1970, once again due to the change of political scenario and the problems with the previous development strategies, the government decided to try a new development approach, the Integrated Rural Development Program (IRDP). Development of agriculture was the central force behind this program. Moreover, the IRDP was created as a subsidiary of the Agriculture Department where its leadership was drawn from, and all frontline workers recruited to run this program were agricultural graduates. On the other hand, Local Government Department controlled rural development funds. This dichotomy in modus operandi not only resulted ample tension between the two agencies but also created frustration among the workers of this newly launched program. The IRDP staff started a campaign to enhance agricultural productivity by using their professional skills, which had a tremendous impact on crop yields. One of its principle functions was to integrate the functioning of various line departments and facilitating farm service delivery to the farmers at one point. This coordinating role could not be accomplished successfully for hard departmental boundaries. Subsequently, in 1978, the IRDP was subsumed into the Local Government Department and turned into a routine bureaucratic agency.

Training and Visit (T and V) System

Under Training and Visit system of agricultural extension, the functions of transfer of technology were clearly delineated and separated from supply functions such as provision of inputs. Technology transfer was kept with agriculture extension in public sector and the functions pertaining to supply of inputs and services were handed over to private sector or commercial corporations. The T and V system could not continue as per program after the completion of the project in 1994-95, as the provincial governments did not provide the promised operational budget. The ratio of the salary and operational budget was reduced from 57:43 in 1993-94 to 93:7 in 2001-2002. Thus, the agriculture extension service established under the T and V system has gradually weakened. There was no proper facilities for regular backup training to the staff, funds for traveling, and daily allowances were drastically reduced thereby limiting the mobility of staff, adaptive research farms discontinued and the morale of extension staff was affected. This situation caused complaints from farmers against extension service and instead of addressing the debilitating causes; the Government put a further squeeze on the service.

The vacant positions of agriculture officers that come to several hundreds were never filled. Despite all such odds, the extension staff kept on maintaining limited contacts with farmers, organized field days and field seminars. In some areas like train the trainer’s program and media extension, the private sector support such as pesticides companies were sought to keep the extension service in operation. Because of certain compelling forces, at some places particularly cotton and rice belts of Punjab province, extension was organized differently. Both the commodities have export-led potential. The growers became very receptive of the improved production and protection practices. The traditional role of extension staff from person-to-person contact transformed to electronic means and print media. The growers were encouraged to visit commodity research institutes and acquire state-of-the-art knowledge and seeds of new varieties.

The training of extension staff was organized on regular basis employing modern training techniques. The monitoring and evaluation of the field staff by district and provincial extension managers was developed on mechanical and quantitative patterns. Use of fax machine helped sub-district and district extension officers to promptly feed the provincial government with the latest information about availability of seed, fertilizer, irrigation water, machinery, and other inputs besides crop stand, prevalence of any insect, pest, or disease, the anticipated yield production levels and marketing of the farmer production.

Functions

Provincial Level

To achieve the objectives at provincial level, following functions are being performed by the Department:

• Preparation and printing of production technology / plan of crops
• Fixing of area and production targets
• Preparation of provincial level development projects
• Interaction with federal government
• Amendments in Agriculture Laws and provincial level implementation
• Monitoring of the district level activities
• Planning and testing of new strategies for transfer of technology and service matters of provincial cadres

District Level

The district level functions of the Department are:

• Implementation of production technologies, achievement of area, and production targets
• Maintenance of agriculture statistics
• Conduct village level farmer trainings
• Implementation of approved projects
• Preparation of district level projects
• Implementation of Agriculture Laws
• Monitoring of agriculture inputs availability
• Participation in provincial review meetings
• Feedback on researchable problems

Services

Pre-Service and In-Service Trainings

04 Agricultural Training Institutes (IATIs), one each at Rahim Yar Khan, Sargodha, Karor Lal Eason District Layyah, and BATI, Dahgal Rawalpindi are working under Agriculture Department’s Extension Wing. Objective of these institutes is to train manpower to cater need of Punjab’s Agriculture Department and other segments of the society. The services offered by these institutes are as under:

• 03 years diploma course in Agriculture Sciences (DAS) has been brought in place
• Presently, 842 pre-service trainees are on roll in the 04 Agricultural Training Institutes in Punjab
• Up to now 11 groups have completed Three Years Diploma in Agricultural Science
• To arrange In-service Training for agriculture experts to sharpen their knowledge in administrative, financial and technical fronts

How to Avail this Service

Eligibility for Admission

The candidate seeking admission to Three Years Diploma in Agricultural Sciences must meet following requirements:

• The candidate (Male/Female) shall be matriculate with science or equivalent examination (O Level etc.) having at least 40% marks, admission will be given purely on merit
• Maximum age limit, at the time of admission, is 23 years. The Vice Chancellor University of Agriculture, Faisalabad can relax the age by 2 years. For In-service employees of Agriculture Department Extension Wing, the age limit for admission is 30 years and no further relaxation in age will be permissible
• Hafiz Quran candidate will be given 20 extra marks subject to supply of original certificate and oral test
• For admission in In-service Agricultural Training Institute, Sargodha, the candidate must have domicile of any district viz Sargodha, Khushab, Faisalabad, Jhang, Chiniot, Toba Tek Singh, Lahore, Kasur, Okara, Sheikhupura, Gujranwala, Hafizabad and Nankana Sahib
• For admission in In-service Agricultural Training Institute, Rahim Yar Khan, the candidate must have domicile of any district viz Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Sahiwal, Pakpattan, Vehari, Khanewal, Lodhran and Multan
• For admission in Barani Agricultural Training Institute, Dahgal, Rawalpindi, the candidate must have domicile of any district viz Rawalpindi, Jhelum, Attock, Chakwal, Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin, Sialkot and Narowal
• For admission in Agricultural Training Institute, Karor District Layyah, the candidate must be having domicile of any district viz Layyah, Rajanpur, Muzaffargarh, D.G. Khan, Mianwali and Bhakkar
• The candidate should hold good character
• The candidate should be physical healthy
• In case of equal marks, preference will be given to the candidate having rural background and basic knowledge of agriculture
• Submission of attested copy of following documents with the admission form is compulsory:
  • Result Card of Matric / Equivalent
  • Domicile
  • Character Certificate
  • 04 Passport Size Photographs
  • Father/guardian computerized National Identity Card (CNIC)
  • NADRA Form B, in case of not applicable for CNIC yet
  • Father/guardian mobile/contact number
  • The employees of Agriculture Department and the candidates seeking admission against quota of Government Employees shall annex the certificate with admission form issued by the concerned office
  • In case of admission, the candidate shall be bound to get the Matric certificate certified from the concerned BISE, failing which the admission shall be considered cancelled

Transfer of Technology

Training of farmers by trainers is a regular activity of Agriculture Extension Services and is carried out in the following way:

• Villages are allotted to every trainer by DOA (Ext.)
• Village wise schedule of trainings are managed
• Literature is distributed and demonstration is arranged
• Focus on small farmers
• Farmers are encouraged to ask questions 
• Concerned Field Assistant informs the farmers one day earlier

How to Avail this Service

Farmers can avail this service by participating in Village Level Farmer Training Programs.