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Moderated conference on rural advisory services for family farms: 1-18 December 2014

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Mon, 15 Dec 2014 11:02:09 +0100
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I am Das Joseph, aged 35 from Kerala, India. After my post graduation in commerce, I choose my career in agriculture (not in office) and do all works in the farm including labour works. I own a total of 1.5 hectares of agriculture farm land. Mixed farming is the secret behind my success. My main crops are paddy, coconut, duck, hen, cattle, fish etc. This means all are inter related. 



Based on the specific subjects of small farms and tailoring rural advisory service, I would like to give the following responses to questions in the conference background document. 



4.1 What are the unique characteristics or features of rural advisory services for different types of family farms?



In Kerala, large population have their own small proportions of land. It can only be called as plots. People are not interested in producing their own vegetables. Even farmers are interested in buying vegetables and food items which are produced with the help of highly concentrated and dangerous pesticides in large farms. But some negligible people find their organic vegetables on house terrace.

 

4.2 What are the current gaps in rural advisory services for smallholder family farms?



There is no effective advisory service here. Only with the help of advisory service, it is not possible to increase production here. Because here the cost of production is very high for small farms (labour wages, cost of manure, etc). So it is profitable for small farmers to buy food items from large scale producers who have large sized farms. Also those who are responsible for rural advisory service are not interested to take part in the same. My advice to overcome this problem is by



a) Appointing a national/international agency for strict supervision of government officers who are intended for rural advisory service

 

b) Providing material like small machinery ploughs, reapers, etc. that minimize labour efforts and provide technical knowledge of these machines.

 

4.3 What role can producer organizations play in tailoring rural advisory services for family farms?



In India there are many producer organizations that help to provide advisory service and organize agricultural activities. Some successful organizations are:



* KERAFED (Kerala Kerakarshaka Sahakarana Federation Ltd) - related to improvement of coconut development

* NAFED (National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India) - related to whole agriculture direct marketing by eliminating intermediaries

* SUPPLYCO (Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited) - related to collection and distribution of food grains

* MILMA and AMUL (milk collection and supply milk in Kerala and Gujarat - in India) 

* VFPCK (Vegetable and Fruit Promotion Council Keralam) - related with collection and distribution of vegetable and fruits by eliminating business men



These organizations are independent to take any decision for their success. Also, farmers have the right to get any information on these organizations activities. These organizations directly provide information to farmers and collect agricultural products directly from farmers. This helps to eliminate intermediary business people. This leads to increase the profits of farmers. 



Following are the effective measures for the improvement of good performance to some extent:



* Creating self-help groups of 15 members of same locality.

* Women agricultural organization of 10 members (like the Kudumbashree project) in Kerala, India.

* Group farming shall be organized by small farmland holders so that they can share their common machineries, tools and equipments.

* The most educated person from the group shall be selected as the leader of the group

* A group of these leaders shall be formed. Various information training, and knowledge on agriculture can be passed to these group of leaders and ultimately reach their group members. 

* Opportunities are given to technically educated persons for the improvement of small agricultural machinery which may lessen the physical effort of the labour.

* Information about various schemes on agriculture expansion are informed to farmers through newspapers and the above selected group leaders.

  

4.4 Are there regional specificities regarding rural advisory services for family farms?



On considering the regional specific problems, issues, etc. the most important are given below:



* Lack of interest to conduct training programme by some corrupted officials.

* Lack of woman participation in training programme is one problem here.

* The real fact is that, only through advisory service, agriculture expansion cannot be achieved. Distribution of funds and subsidies have equal importance in successful agriculture. But these funds are leaked to the hands of corrupted officials. Also the distribution expense of balance funds after leakage is very high

* The farmers get only a nominal amount of funds and subsidies when huge expenses are incurred for them. Here it seems profitable to buy food than cultivate it. This is why here people are seeking any other work leaving small agriculture farmland bare. So what is the need of advisory service? This is the question of farmers here.

 

4.5 How to improve the outreach and impact of rural advisory services?



Approaches to improve rural advisory service: Activities like training programmes, classes on improvement of agriculture method, fertilizers etc. are not reaching to farmers on time. So only a few people can attend the training programme. This problem can be overcome. The details of the training programme shall be conveyed to the selected group leaders (section 4.3). Other methods are by publishing notices in newspapers, public announcement in markets and main streets clubs, etc. where farmers gather together. Training venue and time should be convenient to farmers to attend. This means training should not be conduct at offices. It shall be in the field, where demonstration plots are organized by agriculture officers themselves. These demonstration plots will attract farmers and they will reach training programme themselves and follow the practices in demonstration plots.

 

Das Joseph Koottappillilil, 

Chathamattom,

Pothanicad, 

Ernakulam, 

Kerala, 

India. 

Mobile No 91-9495471735, 91-9048784795

e-mail: dasjkpl (at) gmail.com



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