Questions/Answers

The Million Farmers School (TMFS) is an innovative program initiated by the Department of Agriculture in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. This seeks to address the weaknesses of Agriculture Extension System and strengthen the same in order to promote resilient farming systems, enhance productivity and production, thereby improving the lives of farmers. The state government was looking at innovative approach to enhance productivity and production of crops and also at diversified production portfolio for the farmers in order to enhance their incomes. This is in line with the ambitious goal of doubling farmers' income by the year 2022 set by Govt. of India. This cannot be achieved without providing timely information and knowledge to farmers about scientific methods of farming, newer varieties of improved seeds, appropriate agronomic practices and available market opportunities. With these objectives in mind, a situational analysis was carried out by the department and it was found that drastic improvement is required in the agriculture extension system in order to achieve the aforesaid objectives. After detailed deliberations, a new model of extension was conceptualized which is based on structured curriculum, campaign mode and capacity building exercises. Twice every year, the department of agriculture deploys its entire extension machinery to conduct more than 15000 training modules for the farmers across the state for providing information and practical knowledge to more than a million farmers. The curriculum contains information on not only agriculture but also allied sectors like animal husbandry, dairy etc. Five such training modules have been conducted and more than 5 million farmers have benefited from this innovative model. This is the largest extension exercise in the field agriculture and allied sector. This has also turned out to be a low cost, high return technique which can be easily replicated.

The Million Farmers School is a comprehensive 3-5 days' module in which training is imparted on crop varieties, management practices, input use, marketing and value addition. This also includes horticulture livestock, fisheries etc. More than 15000 training modules are conducted across the state twice every year before the monsoon and winter crop season respectively. In these training programs, farmers irrespective of their land holding area, wealth status, gender, caste or creed can simply walk in and get benefit of the program. This is, therefore, delivering utmost inclusive and equitable extension services for all the farmers of the state.

The Million Farmers School supports : Goal 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture This intervention is contributing towards the achievement of Targets 2.3 & 2.4 of SDG 2. The Million Farmers School aims at imparting knowledge of efficient, climate resilient and sustainable agriculture, boosting the production and productivity. The foodgrain production during year ending March 2017 was 55.8 MMT, which rose to 60.4 MMT in year ending March 2019. Similarly, 12.5% increase in oilseeds production was achieved during corresponding period. Extension of latest technology is essential to ensure increase in production and productivity. Dissemination of latest technologies, information about improved seeds and package of practices through TMFS has resulted in quantum jump of food production of the state. State has also achieved ever highest production of Milk and Vegetable leading to food and nutritional security. This program has also led to the adoption of climate smart agriculture by farmers. The uptake of seeds of stress tolerant varieties, micro irrigation, farm ponds in water limited areas, compost and vermi-compost, zero tillage implements for conservation agriculture, appropriate agronomic practices and bio fertilizers/pesticides has gone up substantially. This has been possible due to this inclusive program.

The initiative is highly sustainable as it is a low cost, high return intervention. It is highly replicable and is being done on scale so there is no question of any unseen financial or programmatic problems arising. It has a positive impact on the environment as it is promoting climate smart agriculture by promoting conservation agriculture. This is very popular among the farmers as it is bridging a very critical gap between scientific advancement and the knowledge dissemination amongst them. Socially, this is a very inclusive program which does not discriminate on the basis of wealth, education or other differentiating factors.

To ensure food and nutritional security for ever-growing population of the state, it is essential to increase the production and productivity every year. Deteriorating soil health, depleting ground water and climate change are major constraints in achieving this goal. To address these problems, it was felt that the farmers need to be made aware and provided technical inputs regarding recent advances in science in the field of agriculture and allied sectors. After detailed deliberations, it was understood that the knowledge gap amongst the farmers was the significant weakness and a conclusion was drawn that the agriculture extension system needed strengthening. Various extension related schemes were under implementation but their reach and impact was not very encouraging. Agricultural extension being the most critical link, The Million Farmer School (TMFS) was designed as an intervention to enhance technical knowledge and skill about newer crop varieties, advanced agronomic practices, diversification and integrated farming system to make agriculture profitable. This program aims to train one million farmers during every edition with available infrastructure and technical manpower taking advantage of the ICT platform.The program was implemented in a campaign mode, resulting in maximum coverage and output as well as significant capacity building of departmental staff.

The program is very popular among women farmers as its curriculum also covers women friendly agricultural activities like seed storage, seed treatment, dairy and poultry program. Female members are involved in majority of agriculture and allied sectors activities and their labour participation in this sector is very substantial. The program is conducted at their doorsteps in the village itself where they can easily participate. Participation of women farmers in first edition (Winter Season 2017-18) was only 13.7 percent which has now gone up to 19.5 percent in the recently concluded fifth edition which speaks of its growing popularity among rural women.

Every farmer of the state is in the target group under the program irrespective of land holding size, gender, religion, caste & creed. So far, 5 editions of TFMS have been conducted and each time more than one million farmers have been trained. The program has been very well accepted by the farmers and it has upgraded their knowledge and skills. Demand of new high yielding varieties has increased significantly. Farmers are now more aware about balanced use of fertilizer, micro-nutrients and bio-fertilizers. More area is being covered under timely sowing/transplanting. Practical demonstration about seed treatment and safe methods of pesticide application has helped in cost-effective disease and pest control. Similarly knowledge upgradation in the field of horticulture, animal husbandry & dairy and fisheries has also been observed. State has seen a significant rise in production and productivity of major crops, vegetables and milk. During agriculture year 2018-19. State recorded the highest production and productivity level in cereals, pulses, oilseeds, vegetables and milk. For the first time, the state has crossed 60 MMT food grain production mark. Uttar Pradesh has become the highest producer of wheat, sugarcane, potato and milk in the country. An evaluation report by IFPRI substantiates this.

Once it was understood that the agriculture extension system needed to be strengthened, a new model was conceptualized which was to be executed in a campaign mode with a well structured curriculum taking advantage of the large number of technically educated employees having an undergraduate or masters degree in agriculture and allied activities. Cascade model of training was used for the program, wherein : • Firstly, the senior officials of the department of agriculture and allied sector and senior scientists (key resource person) trained the district level officials and scientists of Krishi Vigyan Kendra (Master Trainer). • Secondly, master trainers train the village level functionaries. A trainer handbook is also provided to them, and • Finally, the village level trainers train the farmers as per training schedule. Every participating farmer is given a technical booklet free of cost. To check the preparedness and knowledge, village level trainer are called on random basis and asked to speak on allotted topic through video conferencing. This exercise is repeated 3-4 times before the start of each edition to prepare them for the ultimate training sessions for the farmers. This exercise has resulted in significant capacity building of the departmental functionaries and has also enhanced their soft skills. Sector-wise district level officials are nominated to monitor the program during the course of implementation. Public representatives inaugurate / participate in the program to encourage better peoples' participation. During the training program, live demonstrations like safe use of pesticides, seed treatment, identification of substandard inputs, germination test for seeds etc. are carried out which enrich the training immensely. "The Million Farmers School" App has also been put in place to monitor the program. It captures geo-tagged photograph of the activity on daily basis along with the details of place and participants. Feedback to improve the curriculum is also taken.

The main challenge in implementing the new program was to develop the capacity of thousands of field workers and to motivate them to function as trainers. Their knowledge level, public speaking and other soft skills were not of required level and therefore it was a challenging task. Bringing farmers to these schools was also challenging. Proper designing of training curriculum, repeated training through cascade model and motivational talks prepared the department for undertaking such a massive exercise. Attracting farmers to these training sessions was ensured by proper communication strategy and messages through different platform, i.e., print, audio-visual and digital etc.

This is innovative as it runs the farmer schools for disseminating new knowledge to farmers in a campaign mode with a structured curriculum on a very large scale. The program uses the audio visual as well as the digital platform for training thousands of field functionaries and also to test their preparedness. Participating farmers are not only given classroom training in theory but they are also given practical demonstrations. A technical booklet is distributed to every participating farmer free of cost. This program apart from training the farmers, builds capacity of the extension employees of the department in a big way.

This is a purely home grown idea, which brings a fresh approach in the field of agriculture extension.

This has not been adapted by other regions, as of now. However, many other regions have sought details regarding this program. The government of India (federal government) asked us to make a presentation during the National Rabi Conference before all other states of India for its dissemination.

TMFS is very effectiv, low cost and high return agriculture extension model which can be easily transferred / adapted to other regions or country. It is a meticulously structured training program in which different aspects of agriculture and allied sectors are discussed in detail before commencement of crop season. Agriculture department has used its own technical staff and existing infrastructure of the village for this training program. IFPRI, in its evaluation, has found this model to be highly replicable and usable by other states and countries. Federal Government has asked all other states to consider emulating this.

TMFS uses most of the existing resources of the state. To train large number of master trainers across all the districts, National Informatics Centers situated at headquarter and districts are used. At district level, Agriculture Technology Center infrastructure is utilized to train field level technical staff by district level officials and agriculture scientists. The village level primary schools were used for the training program, once the classes are over. A small budget in the range of one USD per participant includes expenditure on trainers’ technical handbook for technical staff, free technical booklet to farmers and other necessary arrangements.

TMFS has proved to be a very successful model and helped in upgrading the knowledge and communication skill of the departmental staff and also the farmers. This requires a very reasonable budget, hence it is financially sustainable. The returns are very high from the program, which makes it very attractive administratively and also politically. As it does not disturb the existing institutional mechanisms and runs on the strength of existing structures, processes, staff and infrastructure, this is sustainable in terms of institutional arrangements also.

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Looking at the success and effectiveness of The Million Farmers' School, state government decided to get this program evaluated through an institution of international repute, i.e., International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). After initial discussion and field visit, IFPRI found this program suitable for evaluation. Initial data from 16 district were collected across the state in which 32 farmer schools were covered and 32 control villages were selected. Total 1336 household of these villages were interviewed and demographic, socio-economic and occupational details were collected. Feedback from participants of TMFS was also recorded.

International Food Policy Research Institute, the evaluation agency took the household as unit of the study. In this study a range of tools like propensity score matching (PSM), inverse probability weighted adjusted regression (IPWRA), coarsened exact matching etc. were used to address the issues like representative sample selection, impact estimation of TMFS on agricultural knowledge of household assessment of decision making of farmer to attend TMFS. The indicators taken up by the evaluating agency included assessment of knowledge level of trainers, usefulness of knowledge imparted in TMFS, knowledge upgradation of participants willingness to attend further such trainings.

The evaluating agency, IFPRI found significant and positive impact on farmers in The Million Farmers School. 90 percent of the participants were satisfied with the training received on improved seed varieties, application of fertilizer, plant protection technique, new irrigation methods and other new agriculture practices and farming methods. Mobilization of the resources for the initiative was found to be adequate. Implementation quality of the program was found satisfactory. However, enhancement in participation in future editions was suggested. Initially some village level trainers felt some difficulty in communicating but rigorous capacity building and training improved their skill and knowledge. The benefits of the program have been found to be across different regions and social groups. Based on the feedback received from the impact evaluation, training curriculum was revised to make it more relevant and interesting for the farmers. A mobile app to ensure better monitoring of the farmer schools was also launched during the fifth edition.

The initiative works beautifully within the landscape of the department of agriculture in an integrated manner. While the lowest tier of the technical functionaries functions as trainers for the farmers and benefits from each other's experiences in doing so, the higher tiers function as master trainers and key resource persons respectively. The higher tiers also function to monitor the implementation effectively and provide feedback for further improvement in the program. The curriculum includes information from other line departments like animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries etc. Synergy has been observed horizontally across all these departments as they come together to finalize the curriculum and also participate in the training programs at all levels.

The curriculum was finalized in consultation with all line departments, agriculture universities, state council of agriculture research and other institutions. Senior officials of agriculture and allied departments and scientists sat together to assess the need and accordingly designed the course curriculum and implementation strategy to make agriculture sustainable and profitable. National Informatic Center, an important stakeholder, made available its network all across the state to facilitate training program of the master trainers and monitoring of the preparedness of the trainers. They also provided the web link for live streaming of training organized at headquarter. At district level Agriculture Technology Center have been actively involved to impart training to village level functionaries. They addressed location specific issues also in effective manner. The line department at district level also coordinated the program as their village level workers were deputed as village level trainers and their officials served as master trainer and nodal officers to monitor the implementation of the program. International Food Policy Research Institute evaluated this initiative on the request of state government of Uttar Pradesh. All the stakeholders were deeply involved across various processes of the program. This engagement took place due to initiative by Agriculture Department to involve all stakeholders.

The key lessons learnt are as follows :- 1. Active engagement of different stakeholders leads to successful implementation. 2. Political as well as administrative ownership is necessary for a very large scale program to succeed. 3. Careful planning and meticulous execution are sine qua non of effective and successful programs. 4. Farmers are receptive to the new knowledge and ideas; we need to bridge the gap between lab and land. 5. For a very large scale program where more than a million farmers are trained during every round, it is necessary to put in place efficient processes, robust institutional framework and rigorous monitoring mechanism. 6. Reaching more than a million farmers during a campaign is a very satisfying experience for the entire department. The department plans to further improve the curriculum to make it more meaningful and interesting for the farmers. To ensure better gender equity, department plans to include more topics relevant to the women farmers including their health and nutrition issues. To ensure overall higher participation, audio visual equipment will be introduce in future to display interesting short films on scientific agricultural practices and best practices from across the country and abroad.