Revitalization of agricultural technology management agency (ATMA)

Abstract

The present study entitled “Revitalization of Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA): A comparative study in Thiruvananthapuram and Kottayam districts of Kerala” was carried out at the Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, Vellayani. The study aimed at comparing the implementation of revitalized ATMA activities in Thiruvananthapuram and Kottayam districts with a view to suggest measures for further improvement. Since the study is participatory with multi-stakeholder involvement, four classes of stakeholders of ATMA were chosen as respondents namely implementing officials, members of decision making authorities, farmers and NGO and private partners from each district. Multistage random sampling was employed for the study. On analysis of data, it was found that for each category of respondents, the perception about the implementation of ATMA activities was highly positive and significantly higher in Kottayam district than that in Thiruvananthapuram district. Perception about implementation of ATMA was measured in terms of ten dimensions and it was found that almost all dimensions are found to be positive and significantly higher in Kottayam district than in Thiruvananthapuram district. Regarding impact parameters, around 50 per cent farmer respondents expressed that „productivity‟ of banana and vegetable showed 26-50 per cent improvement in both the districts after exposure to ATMA. „Connectivity‟ among the farmers has improved as a result of their participation in farmer oriented activities such as exposure visits, trainings, demonstrations and farm schools in both the districts. The profile characteristics of farmers such as economic motivation, extension contact, extension participation, number of trainings undergone showed positive and significant association with perception about the implementation of ATMA in Kottayam district whereas in Thiruvananthapuram district, age and economic motivation were associated significantly to the dependent variable. The farmers of both the districts felt that „ lack of coordination of line departments in providing service to the farmers‟ was the major constraint in the implementation of ATMA. „Assigning definite role and responsibility to the implementing officers‟ was the most important suggestion of officials in both the districts. „ATMA activities are to be planned in consultation with farmers‟ and „need of regular monitoring of ATMA‟ were the most important suggestions made by the farmers of Kottayam and Thiruvananthapuram districts, respectively. ATMA should enable the Research and Extension systems to become more dynamic and responsive to solving farmers‟ problems. Besides increasing the financial sustainability of the public extension system, new partnerships with private sector and better coordination among the line departments must also be fostered to ensure that the agricultural sector becomes vibrant and innovation-driven.