EDUCATION FOR AGRICULTURE
 

14.01 Recent events have dramatized the backward state of agricultural development in India. It is well known that food production has not kept pace with population growth, nor increased at a rate which can ensure at least a minimum balanced diet for all Indians. We are at the moment dependent on the surplus production of other countries to avoid famine. This is critical enough in itself but it is further compounded by the fact that an under-developed agriculture retards industrialization by its demands on foreign exchange, by its lack of surpluses for industrial exploitation and by the maintenance of a low purchasing power among the masses of the people. Difficult as this situation now is, it is likely to become even more critical in about ten years' time when the total population will exceed 600 million and when, on present world trends, it seems unlikely that surplus food will be available from other countries to offset our own shortages.

14.02 The tasks before agricultural development are, therefore, clear. We must attempt at least to double the production of food in the next fifteen years and maintain an adequate rate of growth there-after. We must change food habits, lessen our dependence on the vagaries of the monsoon and the winter rains, diversify and improve the quality of the products of our farms, forests and fisheries and push through a rural improvement programme to transform the life in the villages from one of feudal backwardness into that of modernized communities.

14.03 These goals can only be achieved through the application of science and technology to the problems of agricultural production and rural betterment. This involves large-scale capital investment for the provision of irrigation, fertilizers, pesticides, improved seeds, credit facilities for farmers, satisfactory arrangements for storage and distribution of farm products, improved communications and transport, electrification, etc. But this is not enough. We must in addition provide for high quality education and research for agriculture. Without them, the necessary rapid increase in agricultural production will not be possible and there may even be a danger of the capital inputs being wasted. An instance is the present wasteful use of irrigation waters which, applied more intensively to the smaller areas and with greater attention to drainage, could significantly increase agricultural produc-

14.05 EDUCATION FOR AGRICULTURE 639

tion. Indeed in some areas, knowledge can be partially substituted for capital investment.

14.04 This programme of education for agriculture will be based on three main elements-research or the development of the appro- priate technology, extension or the communication of the technology to practising farmers, and training of the needed personnel.

(1) Research. The most significant of these is the development of a new agricultural technology based on science. During the past hundred years, agriculture in many parts of the world has been revolutionized, in part by the development of chemical engineering and mechanization, and in part by a more fundamental revolution in man's biological understanding. This new scientific understanding of the nature of living creatures, both plants and animals, has led to a spectacular improvement in agricultural technology in the advanced countries. Much of the existing technology of chemical fertilizers and of soil and water development can be directly applied to Indian conditions. But these and the new biological technology must be modified to suit the local conditions; and for this purpose applied research is necessary in a number of fields including plants and animal nutrition, genetics, physiology, pathology, the various fields of microbiology and many others.

(2) Extension. The development of this new technology will, however, only be justified if the knowledge is conveyed to the farmers and they are motivated and trained to adopt it and increase their yields and family incomes. Apart from programmes of improving the educational level of the average farmer, this implies the organization of a large-scale programme of extension services.

(3) Training of Personnel. The development of the new technology, the organization of extension services to the farmer and the development of the large complex of agro-industries which the country needs will not be possible unless we train thousands of highly educated agricultural scientists and engineers and an even larger number of technicians and extension workers.

This organic link between the three elements of teaching, research and extension is necessary to ensure that there is a two-way flow from the farmer to the research worker and the classroom and from the research laboratories and teaching departments back to the farmer.

14.05 But if agricultural development is to receive the impetus it needs, education for agriculture must become a major concern of the entire national system of education whose responsibilities go beyond the training of specialized personnel. An orientation towards agriculture must be given in all educational institutions. Furthermore, the education

10

640 EDUCATION AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 14.06

system must give the training needed to those who will man the sup- porting services required for agricultural development. It must also develop an understanding of agricultural problems and rural life among the large group who deal indirectly with these, such as planners, administrators, lawyers, bankers, community leaders and entrepreneurs. It is on these groups that the better development of essential supporting services such as credit, crop insurance, marketing, pricing, distribution and the provision of better conditions and incentives for farmers will depend.

14.06 In order to develop programmes which meet the above needs quickly and effectively, it will be essential, among other things,

- to set up a number of agricultural universities with integrated programmes of research, training and extension;

- to attract talented students, researchers and teachers to agriculture

- to develop programmes of agricultural research, training and extension in other universities and institutions of higher education;

- to improve agricultural colleges;

- to establish agricultural polytechnics to train agricultural technicians;

- to give a certain orientation to agriculture and rural problems in the educational system as a whole;

- to develop agricultural extension programmes, and particularly to establish primary extension centres; and

- to associate successful and progressive farmers closely with the agricultural universities, colleges, polytechnics and primary extension centres and to give them adequate status and facilities.

These are the programmes which we propose to discuss in some detail in this chapter.

AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITIES

14.07 Main Features. The central point in the programme we are recommending is the establishment of at least one agricultural university in each State. The programme is not new. In fact, beginning from the University Education Commission, there have been a series of recommendations pointing to the need for rural or agricultural universities which will have strong polarization around the agricultural sciences and which will combine the work of teaching, research and extension. As a result of these recommendations, a number of agricultural universities have already been set up. But their growth has not been very even; and no adequate attempt has been made to establish a liaison between them and the other universities. There has also been some misunderstanding of the objectives of these institutions. We shall

14.10 EDUCATION FOR AGRICULTURE 641

therefore describe what, in our view, should be their basic characteristics and the manner in which they should function.

14.08 The training of agricultural graduates has been traditionally the responsibility of universities, while research and extension activities have been the province of Central and State Departments of Agriculture and the Community Development Administration programmes. These have developed for the most part independently and with little liaison between them, in spite of the fact that some of the agricultural colleges have been under the administrative control of the State Governments. Such isolation has seriously affected the quality of training given and the research carried out, both of which have been insufficiently related to farm practice. The most distinctive features of the agricultural universities is their integrated programme of research, training and extension. It is this that will make the break-through in education for agriculture.

14.09 In addition, these universities should have the following features:

(1) Their concern with all aspects of increasing, disseminating, and applying knowledge related to agriculture, including basic and applied research;

(2) Their primary emphasis on teaching and research directly and immediately related to the solution of the social and economic problems of the countryside;

(3) Their readiness to develop and teach the wide range of applied sciences and technologies needed to build up the rural economy;

(4) Their readiness, not only to teach undergraduates, postgraduates and research students, but also to give specialized technical training to young people who are not candidates for degrees; and

(5) Their emphasis on adult and continuing education side by side with teaching regularly enrolled students.

14.10 Scope. Keeping in mind these characteristics, it is clear that the agricultural universities will be able to carry out their tasks only if their teaching and research range over many academic and professional fields. They should begin with and for some time concentrate on the traditional agricultural specialities such as agronomy, plant genetics, animal breeding, animal husbandry, veterinary science, plant pathology, soil science, microbiology, horticulture, entomology and parasitology. But in time they should develop the full range of courses indicated below:

(1) Engineering for Agriculture. Irrigation engineering; ground-water hydrology; civil engineering for design, construction, operation, and maintenance of surface water supply systems; crop

642 EDUCATION AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 14.10

processing; mechanical engineering concerned with farm machinery and equipment, including well pumps, motors and strainers. One of the most striking failures of our engineering education has been the lack of appreciation by the engineers in charge of water resource development, of plant and soil requirements for irrigation, water supplies and drainage. A new kind of engineer is needed and in his training the agricultural universities, IITs and other universities all have a role to play.

(2) Specialists in Human Nutrition and Food Technology. Even with present inadequate food supplies, the diet of the poor could be considerably improved, if inexpensive high quality protein supplements could be prepared, distributed, and made acceptable to the people; if food wastage could be lowered by better methods of preservation; and if knowledge of nutritional needs and methods of meeting them could be widely disseminated among the rural people.

(3) Agricultural Economics. Market research, agricultural data collection and analysis, production economics, farm management, rural credit, crop insurance benefit, cost analysis, and other techniques of project evaluation and price structures for farm products.

(4) Public Administration. Organization of government agricultural services, management of cooperatives, local self-government and relations between different governmental levels.

(5) Mass Communications. Adult education, audio-visual teaching and preparation of instructional materials.

(6) Sociology, Anthropology and Law. Analysis of village traditions, social structures and values and their constructive modification; land tenure and tenancy systems; and development of principles of land reform and consolidation.

(7) Resources Conservation. Soil and water conservation, erosion control, range management, reclamation, and soil classification and surveys. A significant proportion of India's 323 million acres of crop land and 177 million acres of forest land has deteriorated through misuse, and urgently needs remedial treatment. An overall land management strategy will depend on a national land survey and inventory, using criteria which can be expressed in terms of crop yield enhancement, costs and time periods.

(8) Forestry. Forest management and technology of forest products such as fuel, timber, paper and cellulose.

(9) Fisheries. Agricultural pond fisheries; river and lake fisheries; marine fisheries; design, construction, maintenance, and operation of fishing vessels and fishing equipment; fish processing and preservation; and fisheries economics.

14.11 EDUCATION FOR AGRICULTURE 643

(10) Earth Sciences. It is of the utmost importance for Indian agriculture to be able to forecast the time of the onset of the monsoon, its intensity and continuity, particularly in the first six weeks of the rainy season. These forecasts should not be on a day-to-day basis but should be made for periods of several weeks or preferably several months. In order to make such forecasts, both more meteorological data from the Indian Ocean and better understanding of the atmospherics that cause the monsoon are needed. The number of Indian meteorologists educated in modem meteorological theory, observational techniques, and forecasting methods is inadequate. There is an equal scarcity of oceanographers capable of making or interpreting oceanographic measurements. To remedy this situation, Departments of Earth Sciences should be built tip as rapidly as possible in several agricultural universities. Besides emphasizing meteorology and oceanography, these departments should also concentrate on ground water geology (the technology of finding and appraising ground water resources) and on engineering geology (appraisal of dam sites and the location of materials for heavy construction).

(11) Basic Sciences. For all the applied sciences and engineering specialities listed above, the students will need a firm foundation of basic science. The agricultural universities should develop departments in statistics, applied mathematics, operational analysis, physical chemistry, biochemistry, molecular biology and physiology.

(12) Humanities. Similarly, the students in the social sciences will need a background of Indian history and literature to gain an understanding of the traditions and values of rural society. The faculties of the agricultural universities should, therefore, contain some scholars in humanities, even though the faculty balance should remain strongly tilted towards practical and professional subjects.

14.11 Functions. The functions of the agricultural universities will be

- research and teaching at postgraduate level, including research aimed at improving agricultural production, processing and marketing;

- teaching at the undergraduate level; and

- extension.

In research and extension, a clear delineation of responsibility between agricultural universities and the State Departments of Agriculture will need to be drawn. The universities should manage all State

644 EDUCATION AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 14.12