India’s ambition to become a developed nation by 2047 requires a significant transformation of its agricultural extension system, moving beyond traditional technology dissemination.
The authors propose an “agricultural opportunity system” that integrates farmers with appropriate technologies, finance, markets, and risk-management services. This system would focus on adopting a systems perspective, providing real-time AI-enabled human advisories, scaling proven innovations, and building a coordinated, pluralistic extension ecosystem.
This approach aims to address the “agricultural technology adoption puzzle” by recognizing that technology change is a complex process requiring local adaptation and an enabling environment. Extension agents should function as “opportunity brokers” and “system orchestrators,” rather than just information providers.
The proposed four pillars include: adopting a systems perspective, replacing generic advice with dynamic advisories, scaling innovations based on readiness assessments, and building a coordinated ecosystem involving public agencies, startups, and farmer organizations.
Source: Down To Earth