IFPRI organized a two day workshop on “Agricultural Extension Reforms in South Asia – Status, Challenges, and Policy Options” to be organized at Committee Room 3, NASC, Pusa, New Delhi on February 17-18, 2015. IFPRI has been conducting research related to agricultural extension reforms in India and collaborating with researchers in other south Asian countries for the past five years through various projects. For understanding extension reforms in India, a major consultation was held in NAARM in 2009 during which policy makers called for development of evidence for spreading extension reform process in India. Since then several research papers have been produced on various aspects of Indian extension system. While they are presented in various forms including several discussion papers, there is a need to pull all the research result together to present it in form that could be used by the policy makers to further guide them in the reform process. South Asian countries such as Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka are going through similar challenges in getting knowledge to farmers. Several experiment shave been conducted to test new approaches to extension by the public, private and NGO sectors. Learning from each country experiences will bring collective understanding and knowledge for the policy makers who are attempting to bring changes in the reform process. The purpose of this workshop is to bring together a groups of researchers, analysts and policy makers to present the issues, constraints and challenges facing agricultural extension reforms that are being implemented in South Asian countries.

1. Climate Smart Extension
Services
Preliminary Lessons from Bangladesh and India
Suresh Babu and Raiz Khan

2. Background Issues
• How to make Extension revamped for CSA?
• Inventory of extension programs and policies that are address climate
change – reviewed and integrated
• Analyze the extension programs from the Context of CC
• Several programs need to be reevaluated make them work together
for CSA
• What do we find from the field in the context of CSA entry points?
• What lessons can be learned for developing countries in South Asia
and beyond?

3. Need for Climate Smart Extension
• Climate Smart Agriculture
• Climate smart villages
• Climate smart Farmers
• Climate Smart extension
• How to develop programmatic responses with knowledge base?
• How to develop institutional responses with institutional innovation?
• How to develop community responses with Collective Action?
• How to overcome implementation Challenges at various levels?

4. Methodology
• Literature review
• Look for CC and CSA opportunities in plans and policies
• How CC is addressed for extension point of view
• Consultative meetings with Extension officials
• Consultation with the farmer groups
• Interviews with middle level officials – state level and national levels
• Policy maker consultation (Swaminathan foundation)
• Scientist consultation (New Delhi)

5. Review of policies and programs related to
CC- Bangladesh
• Country investment plan- 2011
• National Agricultural Policy – 2012
• National Food Policy
• National Water policy – 1999
• Perspective plans
• 6th - 5 year plan
• Sustainable Agricultural Development strategy for Chittagong hills
2013
• National sustainable development plan 2013

6. Bangladesh National level Strategies
• Climate budget
• Climate Change policy
• Pilot project on climate change
• Implementation of Local Adaptation plan of Action
• Ecosystem based adaptation
• National Biodiversity strategy and Action plan
• National Strategic Framework for Sustainable development
• National low carbon development strategy

7. What role organizations play - Bangladesh

8. What should happen in Bangladesh for
extension opportunities for CSA?
• Multisector approach needed at all levels – Water, agriculture, environment and forestry, fisheries
and livestock need to come together
• Agricultural adaptation requires convergence of plans and activities at all levels to avoid cross
disciplinary conflict - BCCSAP – NAPA – environmental and forestry and MOA – Extension,
fisheries, livestock – extension could converge – no action currently jointly
• Sustainable practices for Agricultural and water management – implementation of NSDS – MOA,
MoWR and MOL through taskforce
• Cultivation od low water consuming crops – Integrated teams needed from – MOA, MOWR, LGED
• Arsenic problems and climate change
• Technology promotion – salt tolerant and flood tolerant
• Planning commission reports provide opportunities for multisector approach but institutionally
challenging

9. Strategy of CSA – Extension involvement -
Bangladesh
• Create awareness and create contextual opportunities
• Slowing onslaught of CC impact requires - monitoring and evaluation
• Adaptation – requires improving the forecasting approaches and
start planning early-on
• Long term CC impact need to be analyzed for specific areas and
communities and make part of extension messages
• Building resilience farming – varietal development, institution a
development and keep policy and panning CSA friendly
• 7th five year plan – An opportunity to incorporate CSA extension

10. Review of Initiatives In India
• National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) which is
being implemented at large number of Research Institutes of ICAR,
State Agricultural Universities and 100 KVKs.
• ICAR-CRIDA organized 8-day capacity development program for KVK
Staff in four batches during 19-31 January, 2015
• 205 participants including Program Coordinators, Subject Mater
Specialists and research fellows from 100 NICRA-KVKs in eight Zonal
Project Directorates (ZPDs)
• implementing Technology Demonstration Component (TDC) under
the National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA)

11. Organizational Opportunities - India
• Organization important from the perspective of Climate Readiness Agriculture
• Ministries:
1. Ministry of Agriculture
2. Ministry of Environment and Forest
3. Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (Biogas, Biomass energy)
4. Ministry of Water Resources (National Water Mission)
Academic Institutions:
1. Indian council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)
2. National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) which includes all the
research and academic institutions involved in climate change and agriculture
3. The Energy Research Institute (TERI)

12. Financial institutions for CSA - India
Banking sector involved in development of sustainable agriculture
1. National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD)
Insurance Sector
1. Agricultural Insurance Company of India Ltd.
Farmers Organisations
1. Organic Farming Association of India
2. Indian Farmers Fertiliser Co-operative Ltd (IFFCO) involved in fertilizer sector
3. Krishak Bharati Co-operative Ltd (KRIBCO) involved in fertilizer sector
Industrial consortium
1. Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI)
2. Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)

13. Areas for concentration for extension system
– Tamil Nadu
• Varieties of crops
• Breeds for livestock
• Diversification of crops depending on the vulnerability of food system
• Improved pasture management
• System of Rice intensification
• green manure production and use for nutrient preservation
• Conservation tillage practices – zero tillage – direct seeded rice
• Micro irrigation – drip irrigation
• Rain Water Harvesting
• Landscape management
• Advisory information system

14. Climate Smart Extension system – ATMA entry
points
• Farmers friends trained – community level
• Block Development Officers – trained in strategies for predicting and
developing resilient strategies – incorporating CSA messages in
training and extension programs
• District Level ATMA – the convergence needed - but with a focus on
the CSA
• State to give special attention and develop strategy depending on the
nature of the CC problems – coastal – mountains – drylands,
wetlands, irrigated lands – ecosystem perspectives

15. Some preliminary Lessons
• Agriculture seems to be taken seriously but strategy to be developed
• Coordination among the National ministries seems to at the
• Local levels authorities waiting for the guidance and directions
• Capacity levels are low in terms of understanding the implications of the
CC for agriculture
• Extension system is just beginning to recognize, but needs institutional
innovations
• Not all areas will need CSA – mapping of information needs and will help in
better investment and learning
• Current Extension system and ATMA can paly a role in promotion of CSA in
India