Agricultural development through production teams

Abstract

In 1966 the government of India asked the United States Agency for International Development in New Delhi (USAID) to provide a team of agricultural scientists to assist State Directors of Agriculture in selected states in forging a closer link between research institutes (including agricultural universities) and the agricultural extension services of each state. As a result the Agricultural Production Program (APP) was set up with the objectives of providing links between research and extension work, the development and use of state institutions to provide technical knowledge, and assistance in developing demonstration and training programs. The APP Program ran for about five years. In the six states where the Council of US Universities for Rural Development in India (CUSURDI) was involved, it brought to India 44 long-term and 13 short-term advisers who served for a total of 112 man-years. Fifty-one Indians came to the United States for training and observation. Program costs were about $3·6 million plus Rs. 19·4 million (= $2·6 million) from the Trust Fund. USAID supervisory staff never exceeded two persons. Among aid programs, its distinctive features were that it kept more or less on schedule; it closed according to plan; it left little in the way of new buildings and no new bureaux. Its accomplishments are reflected in accelerated cereal production, better-trained staff, and a better way of working. It is the kind of program that needs to be tried in other countries.