Privatisation of

Agricultural Extension
Service
 Privatization

 Process of funding and delivering the extension services by

private individual or organization is called Private Extension
 Privatisation is the act of reducing the
increasing
role of the role of
government
privateor sector in
an activity or in the ownership of assets
 Privatisation is the incidence or process of transferring
of business
ownership
from the public sector (government)
to the private sector (business)
 Private Extension is solely the act of private individuals or
organizations where the decision of privatization solely rests with
government implemented in liaison with Private Extension Service
Provider
 Privatisation of Agricultural Extension Service
(PAES)

Services rendered in the area of agriculture

and allied aspects by extension personnel
working in private agencies or organizations
for which farmers are expected to pay a fee
(or free) and it can be viewed as
supplementary or alternative to public
extension services” .
 Public Extension System in
India

 India public extension system concentrated

on rural community development objectives,
rather than having strong agriculture focus
 Policy issue
 Disappointing in transfer of technologies
 Weak points of Public
extension system

Extension worker : Farmers ratio-

1:1000
Inability to reach all farmers
Ineffective Extension services
 No need assessment
Women involvement is low
 Indian agriculture is self reliant in
food production.
 Out of 1,10,000 extension staff of
whom around 20% are graduates
 Low cost technology
 The primary goal of Government is to
Maintain food security.
 India is in process of privatizing its input
system to improve farmer access to
purchased inputs and to create a more
efficient input supply system.
 Privatization approaches

 Share cropping system

 Village extension contract

system

 Public extension through

private delivery

 Service for vouchers

 AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION PROGRAMMES
USING PRIVATIZED SERVICE
PROVISION

 Agriclinics and Agribusiness

Centres, India.
 Agribusiness Initiatives.
India
 Strengths of Private Extension
System

 More demand - driven rather than supply –

driven
 High quality of services in terms of satisfying information needs
of clientele, trained manpower, sustained finances and resource allocation

 Provides for an information mix and choices available to

farmers
 Enhanced efficiency of staff

 Assure continuous supply and quality agricultural

products
 More effective because farmer can select an adviser who is the best
to
able
help

Healthy competition among service provider will lead to better quality and
lower costs for
service
 Weaknes of Private Extension
System
 Concentrate on area having favorable physical
environment
 More face-to-face contacts (person
oriented)
 Increased dependence of farmers and hence
exploitation
 No education
role
 Deprivation of small
farmers

Hamper the freeflow of
information