Market-led extension: issues and challenges for extension personnel

Agriculture is the backbone of Indian economy accounting for about 65 per cent of the country's employment. Despite dramatic increase in food production during the last five decades the profit margin of farmers has declined. In this era of globalization and liberalization a farmer will have to transform himself from mere ‘producer’ in the domestic market to ‘producer-cum-seller’ in order to best realize the returns for his investments. The focus should be turned towards high quality produce, low cost of production and high productivity. In this context the extension system may face crisis in the form of knowledge, efficacy, credibility, reorganizational structure etc. Extension personnel will have to be ready to perform some additional roles like SWOT analysis of the market, organizing Farmers’ Commodity Interest Groups, supporting and enhancing the capacities of locally established groups like Water Users Associations, Self-Help Groups, Watershed Committees etc, creation of websites of successful farmers besides establishing marketing agro-processing linkages and market intelligence for motivating our farmers to shift from ‘supply driven’ to ‘market driven’.