Recasting Citizenship for Development - File UPI

Mainstreaming Gender in Agricultural Research and Extension 231
Vidyapeeth Act, 1967, which was followed by the establishment of the
Maharashtra Agricultural University in 1968 (Mahatma Phule Krishi
Vidyapeeth 2006). Later, regional political compulsions led to this single
university being split into four agricultural universities, located at Rahuri,
Parbhani, Dapoli and Akola. Recently, the disciplines of animal husbandry,
veterinary sciences and fisheries have been transferred to a separate
Maharashtra Animal and Fisheries Sciences University at Nagpur.
The functions of agricultural research and education were exclusively
transferred to the agricultural universities, whereas agricultural extension
remained a joint activity of the agriculture department and the
universities.
Agricultural Research
The primary objective of agricultural research, especially during the Green
Revolution decades (1960s and 1970s) and into the present, has been
‘increasing productivity in order to feed the burgeoning population’. In
recent decades, the issue of conservation and sustainable use of natural
resources has also gained significance in research priorities. The outcome
of research influences state policies as well as the state-funded extension
programmes.
Agricultural Extension
Another major outcome of research is the ‘generation of technologies’,
which can then be transferred to the farmers for adoption via the extension
machinery. This kind of organised agricultural extension has been through
various phases of change since independence. The first phase began with
the ‘Grow More Food’ campaign of 1948 and the ‘Community Development
Programme’ of 1952. The second phase, the ‘Training and Visit
System’ (popularly known as the T&V system) sponsored by the World
Bank, was initiated in Maharashtra in 1981. The National Agricultural
Technology Project launched in 1998 can be considered the latest phase
of agricultural extension in the state. The ‘transfer of technology model’,
however, remains the ‘soul’ of all these phases (Raina 2003). Apart from
the organised extension programmes, the Department of Agriculture
functions in a subsidy-based programme mode. It implements various