Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA), Its inception, Mechanism of action, Stakeholders, Constraints, Role, and Responsibilities.

1. ATMA
(Agricultural Technology
Management Agency)
Concepts, Roles and Functions
Ashok Baindha
PhD Scholar
Dept. of Veterinary & Animal Husbandry Extension Education,
PGIVER, Jaipur
1

2. Content:
 National Agriculture Technology Project (NATP)
 Components of NATP
 Innovations in Technology Dissemination (ITD)
 Introduction of ATMA
 Why ATMA Model?
 Key Concepts behind ATMA
 Aim of ATMA
 Roles and Responsibilities
 Features of ATMA
 Organizational Structure at Various Level
 Inter Departmental Working Group (IDWG)
2

3. Cont…
 State Agricultural Management and Extension Training Institutes (SAMETI)
 ATMA Governing Board (GB)
 ATMA Management Committee (MC)
 Block Technology Team (BTT)
 Farmers Advisory Committees at Block, District and State Level
 Farm Information and Advisory Centers (FIAC)
 Project Investments
 Cafeteria of Activities
 Success Stories of ATMA
 Some specific problems faced by ATMA at field level
3

4. National Agriculture Technology Project (NATP)
 Launched by ICAR on 30 June, 1998 with the support of World Bank to strengthen and complement the
existing resources and to argument the output of National Agricultural Research System (NARS)
 Objectives:
 1. To accelerate the flow of technology from research, and extension to farmer.
 2. Improve the dissemination of location specific and sustainability enhancing technologies.
 3. Decentralize technical and decision making authority to the district level.
 4. Create a more effective and financially sustainable public extension system.
 5. Step up the privatization of certain technology transfer activities.
 Salient Features:
 Pilot Testing new institutional arrangement for technology dissemination at the district level and below
through establishment of district ATMA
 Moving towards integrated extension delivery
 Bottom up planning procedures for setting the Research-Extension agendas
 Addressing gender concern in agriculture and
 Increasing use of information technology for effective dissemination. 4

5. Components of NATP
5

6. 'Innovations in Technology Dissemination'
6

7. Number of pilot states:7
Total no. of districts at 4 per state: 28
Andhra
Pradesh
• Kurnool
• Prakasa
m
• Chittoor
• Adilabad
Bihar
• Patna Rural
• Muzaffarpur
• Munger
• Madhubani
Himachal
Pradesh
• Shimla
• Kangra
• Hamirpur
• Bilaspur
Maharastra
• Ahmednagar
• Amaravati
• Aurangabad
• Ratnagiri
Orissa
• Khurda
• Koraput
• Ganjam
• Sambhalpur
Punjab
• Gurdaspur
• Jalandhar
• Sangrur
• Faridkot
Jharkhand
• Dumka
• Jamtara
• Palamau
• Chaibara
7

8. Introduction
 ATMA is an autonomous organization registered under the “Societies
Registration Act of 1860” responsible for technology dissemination activities at
the district level.
 ATMA model was pilot-tested (28 Districts in 7 States) through the Innovations
for Technology Dissemination (ITD) component of a World Bank-funded,
National Agricultural Technology Project (NATP) that became effective in1998
and concluded in June 2005
 This successful experiment served as a basis to launch the Scheme “Support
to State Extension Programmes for Extension Reforms” in the year 2005-06. It
is currently operational in 640 districts and 3 Union Territories.
 Strengthen the existing extension system.
 A focal point for integrating Research and Extension activities and
decentralizing day-to-day management of the public Agricultural Technology
System (ATS)
8

9. Why ATMA Model?
 Multiplicity of Technology Transfer Systems
 Narrow Focus of the Agricultural Extension System
 Lack of Farmer Focus and Feedback
 Inadequate Technical Capacity within the Extension System
 Need for Intensifying Farmer Training
 Weak Research-Extension Linkages
 Poor communications capacity
 Inadequate operating resources and financial sustainability
9

10. Key Concepts behind ATMA
 To Decentralize Decision–Making to the district level through the
creation of Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA)
 To increase farmer input into programme planning and resource
allocation, especially at the block level, and to increase
accountability to stakeholders
 To increase programme coordination and integration, so that the
programme thrusts such as Farming System Innovations, Farmer
Organizations, Technology gaps and Natural Resource
Management can be more effectively and efficiently implemented.
10

11. Aim of ATMA
 a) Increase the quality and type of technologies being disseminated by the
extension system, with an emphasis on:
 Location-specific recommendations for economically important commodities
and production systems;
 Diversification and intensification of different farming systems that would
increase farm productivity and household incomes, especially for resource
poor and disadvantaged farmers
 b) Enable the R-E system to become more demand-driven and responsible
to solving farmers' problems;
 c) Strengthen research-extension-farmer (R-E-F) linkages, especially
feedback;
 d) Increase the financial sustainability of the public extension system;11

12. Cont…
 e) Move toward shared ownership of the agricultural technology system (ATS) by key
stakeholders, including
 f) Generate replicable experiences that can be documented, analyzed, and then used in
expanding this approach(s) to other districts in future projects;
 g) And develop new partnerships with the private institutions including NGOs.
12

13. Strategic Research
and Extension Plan
(SREP)
Prepared through participatory
methodologies such as Participatory Rural
Appraisal (PRA) involving all the
stakeholders and farmers.
Detailed analysis of all the information on
existing farming systems in the district and
research–extension gaps required to be
filled-up
Prioritizes the research–extension
strategies within the district. It becomes
the basis for developments of work plans
at block / district level.
13

14. R-E unit within the project district includes KVKs, ZRSs or sub-stations, and the key line
departments including the Department of Agriculture (DoA), Animal Husbandry (DAH),
Horticulture (DoH) and Fisheries (DoF) are the constituent members of ATMA. Each R-E
unit retains its institutional identity and affiliation but programmes and procedures
concerning district wise R-E activities are determined by the Governing Board of the
ATMA, to be implemented by its Management Committee.
14

15. Roles and Responsibilities of ATMA
 ATMA is supported by Governing Board (GB) and Management
Committee (MC).
 The Governing Board is a policy making body and provide
guidance as well as review the progress and functioning of the
ATMA.
 The Management Committee is responsible for planning and
executing the day-to-day activities of ATMA.
15

16. Features of ATMA
 Support for specialists and functionaries at State, District and Block Level
 Innovative support through a ‘Farmer Friend’ at Village Level @ 1 Farmer
Friend (FF) per two villages
 Farmers Advisory Committees at State, District and Block levels
 Farm Schools in the field of outstanding farmers being promoted at Block/
Gram Panchayat level by integrating the Progressive farmers into
Agricultural Extension System (AES) (3-5 Farm Schools/ block).
 Farmer-to-farmer extension support at the village level to be promoted
through Farmers’ Group.
 Farmers’ Awards at Block, District and State levels.
 Exposure visit/tour to another district, state and nation. 16

17. Organizational Structure at Various Level
17

18. Inter Departmental Working Group (IDWG)
01 Agriculture Production Commissioner/ Principal Secretary (Agriculture) Chairman
02 Secretary (Finance) Member
03 Secretary (Agriculture) Member
04 Secretary (Horticulture) Member
05 Secretary (Animal Husbandry) Member
06 Secretary (Rural Development) Member
07 Secretary (Fisheries) Member
08 Secretary (Soil Conservation) Member
09 Secretary (Women & Child Development) Member
10 Secretaries of related Departments Member
11 Vice Chancellor(s) of SAU(s) Member
12 Director(s) of ICAR Institutes in the State Member
13 NABARD Representative at the State level Member
14 Director, Doordarshan Member
15 Director, All India Radio Member
16 Director (SAMETI) Member
17 Two Progressive Farmer (preferably 1 male and 1 female Member
18 Commissioner/Director (Agri.)/State Nodal Officer Member
18

19. Key functions of IDWG
 To consider and recommend State Extension Work Plan for its approval by
State Level Sanctioning Committee headed by Chief Secretary/ Addl. Chief
Secretary or Technical Committee in DAC.
 Support and monitor the functioning of State Nodal Cell including timely
preparation for necessary approvals and its subsequent execution.
 Provide a mechanism for interactions with the Department of Agriculture &
Cooperation and amongst various Departments within the State including
Agricultural Research system.
 To internalize Innovative concepts and institutional arrangements
successfully demonstrated by the ATMAs for the purpose of up-scaling and
replication.
19

20. Cont…
 To provide guidance on HRD/ Capacity building matters through State level
Committee/ Executive Committee of SAMETI.
 To provide guidance to Chairmen, ATMA Governing Board for day to day
execution of ATMA activities.
 To provide guidance for convergence mechanism for all Farmer centric
schemes.
 To deal with any other policy issue related to implementation of the project,
which emerges from time to time.
20

21. State Agricultural Management and Extension
Training Institutes (SAMETI)
Key functions of SAMETI
 Provide capacity building support in Extension Management related areas to the extension
functionaries from public, private and non-governmental sectors.
 Provide consultancy in the areas like project planning, appraisal, implementation, monitoring &
evaluation, etc.
 Develop and promote application of management tools for improving the effectiveness of Agricultural
Extension services.
 Organize need based training programmes for middle level extension functionaries.
 Develop modules on Management, Communication, Participatory Methodologies etc, as a sequel to
the feedback from training programmes.
 Organize Annual Workshop involving all the agricultural related training Institutes in the State to
achieve complementarity in training and capacity building for functionaries of agriculture and allied
departments.
21

22. ATMA Personnel
The ATMA staffs includes:
Project Director,
A Deputy Project Director (DPD),
An Accountant,
A Computer Operator,
A Secretary-cum-Stenographer,
A Peon-cum-Watchman.
22

23. ATMA Governing Board (GB)
01 District Magistrate / Collector Chairman
02 Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Development Officer (CDO) Vice-Chairman
03 District Head of Agriculture Department Deputy Chairman
04 Representative of Zila Panchayat/ Zila Parishad Member
05 Joint Director / Deputy Director (Agri.) Member
06 Joint Director / Deputy Director (Hort.) Member
07 Joint Director / Deputy Director (Animal Husbandry/Fishery/Sericulture) Member
08 A representative from Zonal Research Station (ZRS) Member
09 Programme Coordinator, Krishi Vigyan Kendra Member
10 One Farmer representative (nominated from DFAC) Member
11 One Livestock Producer ( nominated from DFAC) Member
12 One Horticulture Farmer ( nominated from DFAC) Member
13 Representative of Women Food Security Group Member
14 Representative of FIG/CIG Member
15 One SC / ST farmer representative ( nominated from DFAC) Member
16 A representative of NGO Member
17 Lead Bank Officer of the District Member
18 A representative of District Industrial Center Member
19 Representative of Agriculture Marketing Board Member
20 Representative of input supplying Associations Member
21 A representative of trained input dealers who is also providing extension services Member
22 One Fisheries / Sericulture representative Member
23 A DRDA Representative Member
24 Project Director ATMA Member-Secretary-cum- Treasurer (Ex-officio)
23

24. Key functions of ATMA Governing Board
 Review and approve Strategic Research and Extension Plan (SREP) and annual action plans that
are prepared and submitted by the participating units.
 Receive and review annual reports presented by the participating units, providing feedback and
direction to them as needed, for various research and extension activities being carried out within the
district.
 Receive and allocate project funds to carry out priority research, extension and related activities
within the district.
 Foster the organization and development of Farmers‟ Interest Groups (FIGs) and Farmers
Organizations (FOs) within the district.
 Facilitate greater involvement of private sector and firms and organizations in providing inputs,
technical support, agro-processing and marketing services to farmers.
 Encourage agriculture lending institutions to increase the availability of capital to resource poor and
marginal farmers, especially SC, ST and women farmers.
 Encourage each line department, plus the KVK and ZRS, to establish farmer advisory committees to
provide feedback and input for their respective Research - Extension Programmes.
24

25. Cont…
 Enter into contracts and agreements as appropriate to promote and support agricultural development
activities within the district.
 Identify other sources of financial support that would help in ensuring the financial sustainability of the
ATMA and its participating units.
 Converge human and financial resources available for extension under different schemes and
programmes of DAC.
 Establish revolving funds / accounts for each participating unit, and encourage each unit to make
available technical services, such as artificial insemination or soil testing, on a cost recovery basis
moving towards full cost recovery in a phased manner.
 Arrange for the periodic audit of ATMA‟s financial accounts; and
 Adopt and amend the rules and by-laws for the ATMA.
 Hold meetings of ATMA GB every quarter or frequently.
 Any other functions that support effective functioning of ATMA in the district.
25

26. ATMA Management Committee (MC)
01 District Head of Dept., Agriculture Chairman
02 Project Director of Agriculture Technology Management Agency Co-Chairman
03 District Head of Dept., Horticulture Member
04 District Head of Dept., Animal Husbandry Member
05 District Head of Dept. Fisheries Member
06 District Head of Dept. Sericulture Member
07 Head, Krishi Vigyan Kendra Member
08 Head, Zonal Research Station Member
09 Project Officer, District Rural Development Agency Member
10 One representative of Farmers‟ Organization promoted by an NGO Member
11 Representative of NGO, if any, involved in agricultural extension Member
12 District level NABARD Officer Member
13 Lead Bank Officer Member
14 A representative of trained input dealers who is also providing extension services Member
15 Two progressive farmers (one of whom should be a woman) ( nominated from DFAC) Member
16 Two Deputy Project Directors ( of which one will be nominated as Member Secretary) Member Secretary
26

27. Key functions of Management Committee (MC)
 Carry out periodic Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) to identify the
problems and constraints faced by different socio-economic groups and
farmers within the district.
 Prepare an integrated, Strategic Research and Extension Plan (SREP) for
the district that would specify short and medium term adaptive research as
well as technology validation and refinement and extension priorities for the
district.
 Prepare annual District Agriculture Action Plans in consultation with DAC
which would be submitted to the ATMA Governing Board for review,
possible modification and approval.
 Maintain appropriate project accounts for audit purposes.
 Coordinate the execution of these annual action plans through participant
i.e. line departments, ZRSs, KVKs, NGOs, FIGs / FOs and allied
institutions, including private sector firms.
27

28. Cont…
 Establish coordinating mechanisms at the Block level, such as Farm
Information & Advisory Centres (FIACs) that would integrate extension and
technology transfer activities at the block and village levels.
 Provide periodic performance reports as required by DAC to the Governing
Board outlining the various targets and achievements.
 ATMA Management Committee shall meet once in a month to review the
progress in various blocks and submit the report to State Nodal Cell/ DAC.
28

29. Block Technology Team (BTT)
 An Inter Departmental Team of Agriculture and Line Departments operating at block level.
01 Block Development Officer (BDO) Chairman
02 Block level officers of Agriculture Member
03 Block level officers of Horticulture Member
04 Block level officers of Animal Husbandry Member
05 Block level officers of Fisheries Member
06 Block level officers of Plant Protection Member
07 Block level officers of Soil Conservation Member
08 Block level officers of Extension Member
09 Block level officers of Sericulture Member
10 Block level officers of Corporative Member
11 Block level officers of Marketing Member
12 Block Technology Manager Member Secretary
Senior most official at the Block level shall head the Block Technology Team as BTT Convener.29

30. Key functions of Block Technology Team (BTT)
 Operationalize the SREP in each block and move towards single window extension
system.
 Help district core team in up gradation of SREP.
 Prepare Block Action Plan detailing extension activities to be undertaken.
 Coordinate the implementation of extension programmes detailed in the Block Action
Plan.
 Facilitate formation of FIGs/ Women Food Security Groups/ FOs at the block level and
below.
 Support ATMA Management Committee in discharging its function by providing inputs
related to the Block.
 Facilitate planning and implementation of Farm Schools in all major sectors in the Block.
 The Block Technology Team (BTT) shall meet every month to review the progress and
report the same to ATMA Management Committee.
30

31. FARMERS ADVISORY COMMITTEES AT BLOCK,
DISTRICT, AND STATE LEVEL
S. No. Member (Block FARMERS ADVISORY COMMITTEES) Occupation
01 Farmers (2) Agriculture
02 Farm Women (2) Agriculture
03 Farmers (2) Horticulture
04 Farm Women (2) Horticulture
05 Farmers (2) Live Stock Producers
06 Farm Women (2) Live Stock Producers
07 Farm Women (2) Mahila Mandal
08 Farmers (2) Yuvak Mandal
09 Farmers (2) Input Dealers
10 Farmers (2) Farmer Groups
11 Farmers (2) BDC Members (Block Dev. Council)
Chairman shall be elected out of the above members on rotation basis
BTM shall also act as Member Secretary to BFAC
31

32. Cont…
 District Farmers’ Advisory Committee shall comprise not more than 25 farmers
(numbers will thus need to be restricted depending on number of blocks in the
District):
 (i) 1 to 2 farmers each nominated by the BFAC as per consensus or majority
 (ii) Selected District level award winning farmers
 (iii) PD (ATMA) shall act as Chairman of DFAC
 State Farmers’ Advisory Committee shall comprise not more than 30 farmers
(numbers will thus need to be restricted depending on number of districts in the
State):
 (i) 1 to 2 farmers each nominated by the DFAC
 (ii) Selected State level award winning farmers
 (iii) SNO shall act as Chairman SFAC
32

33. Key functions of Farmers Advisory Committees:
 Act as an agency for providing farmers’ feedback and inputs for preparation/
compilation of Action Plans and for prioritization of activities as follows:
 (i) BFAC to BTT
 (ii) DFAC to ATMA GB and MC (through nominated representatives)
 (iii) SFAC to SAMETI for training related needs and SNC for finalization of
SEWP (through nominated representatives)
 FACs shall meet as per the following periodicities:
 (i) BFAC: Once in a month during the season and quarterly in lean season.
 (ii) DFAC: Quarterly and preferably before ATMA MC.
 (iii) SFAC: Quarterly 33

34. Farm Information and Advisory Centers (FIAC)
 Farm Information and Advisory Centers (FIAC) at block level manage the key extension
programmes within the block and are considered as the extension planning and
operational arm of ATMA at Block level.
 The FIAC team prepares Block Action Plans (BAPs) with detailed extension activities to
be undertaken.
 This plan is approved by the FAC before being forwarded to the ATMA Management
Committee (AMC) for ensuring that these plans are technically and administratively
feasible, and consistent with the SREP, which then forwards it to Governing Board (GB)
for approval.
34

35. Project Investments
 Civil Works
 Equipment
 Computer and related equipment
 Training and communications equipment
 Diagnostic equipment
 On-farm research and demonstration
equipment
 Tentative equipment
 Vehicles
 Training
 Technical training for KVK, ZRS, and SMS
personnel
 Management Training
 Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and
District Planning Procedures
 PRA and Planning Procedures
 Organising Farmers
 Technical Assistance (TA)
 Planning Institutional and Operational
Reforms
 Developing Models and Materials for
Organising Farmer- Groups:
 Organising farmers within Districts
 Monitoring and Evaluation
 Operational Expenses
 On-farm research costs
 Extension demonstration costs
 Travel budget for research and extension
personnel units
 Communications Expenses
35

36. Cafeteria of Activities
District level
activities
Farmer
oriented
activities
Farm
information
dissemination
R-E-F linkages
Administrative
expenses
36

37. Success Stories of ATMA
37

38. 38

39. 39

40. 40

41. 41

42. Some specific problems faced by ATMA at field level
 Operationalization of BTT is a major problem
 The BDO (Superior officer to BTT Convenor) did not come under the purview of ATMA and
he had little understanding of the concept leading to weak performance in some blocks.
 Convergence of various Central and State sponsored programmes with its activities is
difficult in absence of clear cut policy directives from the state government.
 ATMA GB is required to meet regularly on quarterly basis, but meetings of Governing
Board are not regular in the districts. Attendance in GB meetings is also an issue,
especially with respect to official members.
 IDWG is not very effective in providing leadership to the ATMA activities .
 The role of SAMETI in a project state was to function as mini-MANAGE. However in a few
cases it did not properly cater to the HRD needs of the ATMAs. Most positions in SAMETI
are vacant for varying periods.
 In case of the State Nodal Officer appointed to coordinate between ATMA & State Govt.,
much needs to be done.
42

43. ATMA:
01 • Creating Farmer Advisory Committees to improve Feedback
02 • Using NGOs to organize farmers
03 • Encouraging Private Sector Involvement in Technology Transfer
04 • Validating and Refining Technology
05 • Bottom-Up Planning Procedures
06 • Increased Use of Information Technology
07 • In-Service Training
08 • Developing New Public-Private Partnerships 43

44. 44

45. 45