ATMA Objectives and Activities

GOALS & OBJECTIVES

The overarching goal of this project component is to develop and test a technology transfer system (model) that is built on three interrelated goals or concepts. The primary goal is to develop an efficient and effective public extension system that is demand-driven, well integrated with research and financially sustainable. A second goal is to utilize the expertise of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to help all types of farmers, but especially resource poor and other disadvantaged groups of farmers, to get organized into groups and thereby, increase their access to technologies and to strengthen their voice in providing feedback to research and extension. A third goal would be to sharpen to focus of the public Agricultural Technology System (ATS), with an emphasis on location specific, system-based, and sustainable (knowledge-based) technologies, thereby, encouraging private sector firms such as seed and other input supply companies, to expand their role in transferring materials technologies to farmers.

The objectives of this project would be as follows:

To identify locations specific needs of farming community for farming system based agricultural development;
to set up priorities for sustainable Agricultural development with a Farming Systems Approach;
To draw plans for production based system activities to be under taken by farmers/ultimate users;
To execute plans through line departments, training institutions, NGOs, farmers organizations and allied institutions:
To coordinate efforts being made by various line departments, NGOs, farmers organizations and allied institutions to strengthen research extension-farmers linkages in the district and to promote collaboration and coordination between various State funded technical departments;
To facilitate the empowerment of farmers/producers through assistance for mobilization, organization into associations, cooperatives etc. for their increased participation in planning, marketing, technology dissemination and agro-procession etc.
To facilitate market interventions for value addition to farm produce:
To facilitate the processing and marketing activities of the Agricultural, Livestock, Dairy, Poultry, Sericulture, Fisheries, Medicinal plants and allied produce of the farmers with the help of private sector institutions;