PAU holds seminar on agriculture extension

Tribune News service

Ludhiana, May 4

The Punjab Agricultural Management and Extension Training Institute (PAMETI) organised a four-day training programme on “National Mission on Agricultural Extension and Technology (NMAET)” at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU). As many as 22 block technology managers (BTMs) working under Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA scheme) from different districts of the state participated in the seminar.

Dr HS Dhaliwal, director, PAMETI, motivated the participants to apply knowledge about NMAET components at block level. He said NMAET has been approved by Government of India for 12th Five-Year Plan. This mission consists of four sub-missions namely sub-mission on agricultural extension (SMAE), sub-mission on seed and planting material (SMSP), sub-mission on agricultural mechanization (SMAM) and sub-mission on plant protection and plant quarantine (SMPP). This mission also includes ATMA as a component and addresses issues like equity or inclusiveness, public accountability and innovations, he added. During the programme, participants were made aware of the background, structure, functions, programmes and operationalisation of NMAET.

Dr TS Riar, associate professor, Extension Education, PAU, shared his experiences about working on the initial phase of innovations in technology dissemination (ITD), a component of National Agricultural Technology Project (NATP). Pardeep Sharma, general manager, Punjab Agro-industries and Member Secretary of Small Farmers’ Agriculture-Business Consortium (SFAC) Chandigarh, interacted with the trainees and imparted them knowledge about formation and promotion of farmer producer organisations. He also persuaded the officials to disseminate information about the National Pension Scheme for the benefit of farmers. Besides, sessions on PRA techniques of data collection, role of farmer advisory committees in ATMA, role of ICTs in achieving the mission objectives, documenting or reporting the activities being done under the mission and evaluating the impact of those activities were also organized.