Chapter 11 - Extension through entrepreneurial approach: evaluating the agriclinics program

Abstract

The agricultural sector is knowledge intensive. Access to information such as seed varieties, fertilizers, and marketing can increase their net returners by 12% compared to farmers who do not use any information. To improve and sustain farm productivity, farmers require information on new technologies, best practices, inputs, and postharvest information related to marketing and prices. The traditional information broker between the farmer and some of this information has been the public-sector agricultural extension agent. However, over the past few decades, public-sector extension has received much criticism due to limited reach and relevance, and high cost of operation. This chapter examines the use of agriclinics by farmers in two districts of Tamil Nadu state in southern India, in a private extension approach that is linked to the purchase of inputs. The main objective of this study is to examine the farmers’ use of and benefits from agriclinics, with specific reference to the soil testing service. The chapter compares primary agricultural cooperative bank agriclinics with independent agriclinics and the farmers who tested their soil and those who did not test their soil at an agriclinic, by examining their production cost and outcomes, perception, and value of the agriclinic service. The chapter analyzes the effect of soil testing on rice production for the 2009 crop season and estimates farmers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for the soil testing service using a contingent valuation technique. It also compares the input purchases and use of other advisory services from agriclinics of farmers who used the soil testing service with the purchases and advisory service use of farmers who did not test their soil. Characteristics of those farmers who tested their soil are determined using logistic regression.