CHANGING FACE OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION: FROM A P TO 4PS - A REVIEW

Public funded extension services in India have a wide outreach and the services provided are usually free of cost. In recent times the severe criticism largely because of their inability to provide last mile delivery of services in time is being faced by them. The increased demand for more efficient services has increased the scope of privatization of extension services which has taken different forms in different countries ranging from Franchisee, Vouchers, Contracting to Cost sharing etc. Serious doubts are raised about the sustainability of privatization that Privatization would concentrate on commercial resourceful big farmers, favourable areas such as irrigated, fertile soils and commercial crop growing areas. The concept of Public Private Partnership has also been tried at many levels and in different forms. One of the successful reported cases is the Hoshangabad model in Madhya Pradesh where the Department of Agriculture, Government of M. P and Dhanuka group, joined hands to provide timely inputs to the farmers besides capacity building by organizing tours and trainings.The future of extension envisages a participatory development model for rural areas which should clearly define the role of different partners. Public Private Panchayat Partnership (PPPP)may  involve Panchayats at local levels as promoter and facilitator so as to bridge the gap between farmers and research scientists which may aim at moving from mere livelihood support to promoting rural   prosperity, increasing farm income and augmenting rural employment.