Intensification of Agricultural Extension Service (A plea for utilisation of services of Teachers in Rural Schools.)

Abstract

Research and Propaganda are the two limbs of the Department of Agriculture. Both should march hand in hand for a proper solution of the various agricultural problems in the country. At the present moment, emphasis must be more on the side of extension service than on research to meet the present orisis of food shortage. The magnitude of research work done in our institutes and farms has been applauded by all the eminent visiting scientists from abroad and other parts of India. "The work that is going on here" said the distinguished British scientist Sir John Russell, "offers the prospect of solving to a great extent India's food difficulty. The practical difficulty is to get better materials over to the peasant, to enable him to adopt the methods suggested by agricultural experts. There remains always the practical difficulty of getting these methods adopted and properly carried out.". It is this weak link in the chain that needs immediate strengthening. Results of research, however valuable and useful are of little significance unless they are translated into practice in the villages. We have made remarkable progress in evolving strains of various crops suitable to varying conditions of soil and climate in this State. It is true also that we have reliable data pertaining to different cultural practices and manurial improvements. But we have failed to carry the results so gained to the tiller of the soil, to the extent desired. It is for us now to think of the methods we have adopted so far and to devise ways and means of how best these can be enlarged, amended or improved for achieving quick and effective results.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.29321/MAJ.10.A04355

Pages

273 - 276

Creative Commons

Copyright

© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Madras Agricultural Students' Union in Madras Agricultural Journal (MAJ). This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited by the user.

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