Agricultural Technology Management Agency

Agricultural Technology Management Agency shortly termed as ATMA is a Farmer Oriented Programme to Improvise various skills not only in Agricultural Field but also in different other allied Departments like Animal Husbandry, Horticulture, Fisheries and Sericulture.

Extension Reforms in India were pilot tested in 28 Districts in 7 States from 1998 to 2005. This successful experiment served as a basis to launch the Scheme “Support to State Extension Programmes for Extension Reforms” in the year 2005-06. The ATMA was established in the year 2005 in West Godavari District and is in implementation as on date. It was revamped, expanded and strengthened comprehensively in the year 2010& 2014. Coverage of the scheme was increased in a phased manner. It is currently operational in 676 districts.

ORGANOGRAM

The ATMA focuses its attention towards the following major items.

                 The Scheme ‘Support to State Extension Programmes for Extension Reforms’ aims at making extension system farmer driven and farmer accountable by disseminating technology to farmers through new institutional arrangements viz. Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) at district level to operationalize the extension reforms on a participatory mode.

 This Scheme shall focus on the following key extension reforms

• Encouraging multi-agency extension strategies involving Public/ Private Extension Service Providers.
• Ensuring an integrated, broad-based extension delivery mechanism consistent with farming system approach with a focus on bottom up planning process.
• Adopting group approach to extension in line with the identified needs and requirements of the farmers in the form of CIGs & FIGs and consolidate them as Farmers Producer Organizations;
• Facilitating convergence of farmer centric programmes in planning, execution and implementation.
• Addressing gender concerns by mobilizing farm women into groups and providing training to them.

The following Committees shall be set up at various levels.

State Level:

• Inter- Departmental Working Group (IDWG)
• SAMETI Executive Committee
• State Farmers Advisory Committee (SFAC)

District Level:

• ATMA Governing Board
• ATMA Management Committee
• District Farmers Advisory Committee(DFAC)

Block Level:

• • Block Technology Team (BTT)
  • Block Farmers Advisory Committee (BFAC).

Inter- Departmental Working Group (IDWG)

In pursuance of the number of mechanisms built into the project design and to ensure effective coordination amongst Departments like Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries, Horticulture, Soil Conservation etc., a State level Inter Departmental Working Group under the Chairmanship of the Agriculture Production Commissioner/ Principal Secretary (Agriculture) with the following composition would continue to monitor the scheme activities. The IDWG will meet once in every Quarter

Composition:

1. Agriculture Production Commissioner/ Principal Secretary: Chairman
2. Secretary (Finance): Member
3. Secretary (Agriculture): Member
4. Secretary (Horticulture) : Member
5. Secretary (Animal Husbandry) : Member
6. Secretary (Rural Development) : Member
7. Secretary (Fisheries) : Member
8. Secretary (Soil Conservation) : Member
9. Secretary (Women & Child Development) : Member
10. Secretaries of related Departments : Member
11. Vice Chancellor(s) of SAU(s) : Member
12. Director(s) of ICAR Institutes in the State : Member
13. NABARD Representative at the State level : Member
14. Director, Doordarshan : Member
15. Director, All India Radio : Member
16. Director (SAMETI) : Member
17. Two Progressive Farmer (preferably 1 male and 1 female : Member
18. Commissioner/Director(Agri.)/State Nodal Officer : Member Secretary.

Key functions of IDWG

• To consider and recommend State Extension Work Plan for its approval by State Level Sanctioning Committee headed by Chief Secretary/ Addl. Chief Secretary or Technical Committee in DAC&FW.
• Support and monitor the functioning of State Nodal Cell including timely preparation for necessary approvals and its subsequent execution.
• Provide a mechanism for interactions with the Department of Agriculture & Cooperation and amongst various Departments within the State including Agricultural Research system.
• Promote an enabling environment with necessary policy directions for achieving necessary convergence for execution of SMAE activities at State, District and Block levels.
• To internalize Innovative concepts and institutional arrangements successfully demonstrated by the ATMAs for the purpose of up-scaling and replication.
• To provide guidance on HRD/Capacity building matters through State level Committee/Executive Committee of SAMETI.
• To provide guidance to Chairmen, ATMA Governing Board for day to day execution of ATMA activities.
• To provide guidance for convergence mechanism for all Farmer centric schemes.
• To deal with any other policy issue related to implementation of the project, which emerges from time to time.

State Farmers Advisory Committee (SFAC)

The State Farmers’ Advisory Committee shall comprise not more than 30 farmers (numbers will be restricted depending on number of Districts in the State):

• One progressive farmer who is either an Awardee farmer or trained farmer from agriculture and allied sector may be nominated from each DFAC.If the number of District is more than 25, rotation mode may be followed.
• The States shall evolve and notify their own transparent and democratic mechanism for nomination of progressive farmer from each DFAC. Out of the progressive farmers so nominated one-third would be women farmers and one-third would be farmers from small & marginal category. Adequate representation should be given to SC/ST farmers.
• Five National level Awardee farmers in Agriculture and allied sector would be nominated by Director/Commissioner of Agriculture giving due representation to farmers from small /marginal category and Women farmers.
• Duration of a SFAC shall be two years after which new set of farmers shall constitute the SFAC.
• Director (Agri.) shall act as Chairman of SFAC
• SNO, ATMA shall act as Member Secretary of SFAC

ATMA GOVERNING BOARD (GB)

The ATMA Governing Board (GB) is a policy-making body which provides guidance, reviews & steers the progress and functioning of the ATMA.

1.	District Magistrate or Chief Development Officer (CDO)/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) as decided by DM	Chairman
2.	District Head of Agriculture Department	Member
3.	Representative of ZilaPanchayat/ZilaParishad	Member
4.	District Head of Fisheries	Member
5.	District Head of Horticulture	Member
6.	District Head of (Animal Husbandry/Sericulture)	Members
7.	One representative from Zonal Research Station (ZRS)	Member
8.	Programme Coordinator, KrishiVigyan Kendra	Member
9.	Lead Bank Officer of the District	Member
10.	Representative from District Industrial Centre	Member
11.	Representative from Agriculture Marketing Board	Member
12.	Representative from DRDA	Member
13.	One Farmer representative	Member
14.	One Livestock Producer	Member
15.	One Horticulture Farmer	Member
16.	One Representative of Women Food Security Group	Member
17.	One Representative of FIG/CIG	Member
18.	One SC/ST farmer representative	Member
19.	A representative of NGO working in Agriculture/Allied Sector	Member
20.	A representative of input supplying Association	Member
21.	A representative of trained input dealers who are also providing extension services	Member
22.	Representative from companies availing tax benefit u/s 35CCC (if available)	Member
23.	One farmer representative from Fisheries/Sericulture sector	Member
24.	Project Director ATMA	Member-Secretary-cum- Treasurer (Ex-officio)

Note:

1. All non-official member of GB are to be nominated by the District Farmers Advisory Committee by consensus or by majority.

2. Out of the non-official members so nominated one-third would be women farmers and one-third would be farmers from small & marginal category.

3. The non-official members will be appointed as the member of GB for a period of 2 years.

Key functions of ATMA Governing Board

The key functions of ATMA Governing Board would be to:

1. Review and approve Strategic Research and Extension Plan (SREP) and annual action plans that are prepared and submitted by the participating units.

2. Receive and review annual reports presented by the participating units, providing feedback and direction to them as needed, for various research and extension activities being carried out within the district.

3. Receive and allocate project funds to carry out priority research, extension and related activities within the district.

4. Foster the organization and development of Farmers’ Interest Groups (FIGs) and Farmers Organizations (FOs) within the district.

5. Facilitate greater involvement of private sector and firms and organizations in providing inputs, technical support, agro-processing and marketing services to farmers.

6. Encourage agriculture lending institutions to increase the availability of capital to resource poor and marginal farmers, especially SC, ST and women farmers.

7. Encourage each line department, plus the KVK and ZRS, to establish farmer advisory committees to provide feedback and input for their respective Research – Extension Programmes.

8. Enter into contracts and agreements as appropriate to promote and support agricultural development activities within the district.

9. Identify other sources of financial support that would help in ensuring the financial sustainability of the ATMA and its participating units.

10. Converge human and financial resources available for extension under different schemes and programmes of DAC&FW.

11. Establish revolving funds/accounts for each participating unit, and encourage each unit to make available technical services, such as artificial insemination or soil testing, on a cost recovery basis moving towards full cost recovery in a phased manner.

12. Arrange for the periodic audit of ATMA’s financial accounts.
13. Adopt and amend the rules and by-laws for the ATMA.
14. Meetings of ATMA GB must be convened in every quarter.
15. Any other functions that support effective functioning of ATMA in the district.
16. To decide integration and re-designing of on-going developmental schemes in accordance with District SREP.

ATMA MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE (MC)

The Management Committee would be responsible for planning and execution of day-to- day activities of ATMA.

1.	District Head of Dept., Agriculture	Chairman
2.	Project Director of Agriculture Technology Management Agency	Co-Chairman
3.	District Head of Dept., Horticulture	Member
4.	District Head of Dept., Animal Husbandry	Member
5.	District Head of Dept. Fisheries	Member
6.	District Head of Dept. Sericulture	Member
7.	Head, KrishiVigyan Kendra	Member
8.	Head, Zonal Research Station	Member
9.	Project Officer, District Rural Development Agency	Member
10.	One representative of Farmers’ Organization promoted by an NGO	Member
12.	Representative of NGO, if any, involved in agricultural extension	Member
13	District level NABARD Officer	Member
14	Lead Bank Officer	Member
15	A representative of trained input dealers who is also providing extension services	Member
16.	Two progressive farmers (one of whom should be a woman) (nominated from DFAC)	Member
17.	Two Deputy Project Directors (of which one will be nominated as Member Secretary)	Member Secretary

Key functions of Management Committee (MC)

1. Carryout periodic Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) to identify the problems and constraints faced by different socio-economic groups and farmers within the district.

2. Prepare an integrated, Strategic Research and Extension Plan (SREP) for the district that would specify short and medium term adaptive research as well as technology validation and refinement and extension priorities for the district.

3. Prepare annual District Agriculture Action Plans in consultation with DFAC which would be submitted to the ATMA Governing Board for review, possible modification and approval.

4. Maintain appropriate project accounts for audit purposes.
5. Coordinate the execution of these annual action plans through participant line departments, ZRSs, KVKs, NGOs, FIGs/FOs and allied institutions, including private sector firms.

6. Establish coordinating mechanisms at the Block level, such as Farm Information & Advisory Centres (FIACs) that would integrate extension and technology transfer activities at the block and village levels.

7. Provide periodic performance reports as required by DAC&FW to the Governing Board outlining the various targets and achievements.

8. Provide secretariat to Governing Board and initiate action on policy direction, investment decisions and other guidance received from the Governing Board.

9. ATMA Management Committee shall meet once in a month to review the progress in various blocks and submit the report to State Nodal Cell/DAC&FW.

BLOCK TECHNOLOGY TEAM (BTT) :

It is an Inter Departmental Team of Agriculture and Line Departments operating at block level. An indicative composition of BTT is given below. However, the composition would change from place to place depending on the critical areas pertaining to different blocks in a State.

Composition:

BTT shall consist of Chairman Block PanchayatSamiti, Block level officers of Agriculture, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries, Plant Protection, Veterinary Science, Soil Conservation, Extension, Sericulture, Cooperative, Marketing etc. Block Technology Manager would be the Member Secretary. A designated scientist from the KVK will also attend meetings of BTT, provide requisite technical guidance and take feedback for his colleagues in the KVK in respect of their respective areas of expertise.

• The senior most official at the Block level shall head the Block Technology Team as BTT Convener.
• Key functions of Block Technology Team (BTT)
• Operationalize the SREP in each block and move towards single window extension system.
• Help district core team in up gradation of SREP.
• Prepare Block Action Plan detailing extension activities to be undertaken.
• Coordinate the implementation of extension programmes detailed in the Block Action Plan.
• Facilitate formation of FIGs/ Women Food Security Groups/ FOs at the block level and below.
• Support ATMA Management Committee in discharging its function by providing inputs related to the Block.
• Facilitate planning and implementation of Farm Schools in all major sectors in the Block.
• The Block Technology Team (BTT) shall meet every month to review the progress and report the same to ATMA Management Committee.

FARMERS ADVISORY COMMITTEES AT BLOCK, DISTRICT:

     The Block Farmers Advisory Committee (BFAC) shall comprise not more than 30 members as per details given below:

1. Pramukh/Head of Panchayat Samiti /Chairman Taluk Panchayat Mandal Parishad President (MPP) of the concerned Block will be ex-offiice member of BFAC.

1. All members of Zila Parishad/Zila Panchayat of the concerned Block will be ex-offiice members of BFAC.
2. 25 progressive farmers of the Block who are either awardee farmers or trained farmers from agriculture and allied sector would be nominated as members of BFAC.
3. The States shall evolve and notify their own transparent and democratic mechanism for nomination of progressive farmers. Out of the progressive farmers so nominated one-third would be women farmers and one-third would be farmers from small & marginal category. Adequate representation shall be given to SC/ST farmers.

5. Duration of a BFAC shall be two years after which new set of farmers shall constitute the BFAC.

6. Chairman shall be elected out of the above members on rotation basis.
7. BTM would be Member Secretary of the BFAC.

Once in every quarter the Farmer Member of BFAC will conduct a meeting of farmers at the Panchayat level along with the elected representatives of Panchayat on matters related to Agriculture & allied sector and give his feedback in BFAC meetings. Kisan Mitra/Kisan Salahakar/Subject Matter specialist (as the case may be) at Panchayat level will coordinate and facilitate such a meeting.

The District Farmers Advisory Committee (DFAC) shall comprise not more than 40 members

• Chairman of BFAC from not more than 35 Blocks of the District would be member of DFAC or on rotation basis if numbers of Blocks are more.
• Five State level awardee farmers of the concerned District from Agriculture & Allied Sector will be nominated by District Head of Agriculture giving due representation to farmers from small/marginal category, Women farmers and SC/ST Farmers.
• The States shall evolve and notify their own transparent and democratic mechanism for nomination of awardee farmers by District Head of Agriculture.
• Duration of a DFAC shall be two years after which new set of farmers shall constitute the DFAC.
• PD (ATMA) shall act as Chairman of DFAC.
• District Coordinator KVK will be member of DFAC.

DUTIES/ RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE SPECIALISTS AND FUNCTIONARIES:

District Level:

1. Project Director	– Liaison with SNO and SAMETI at State level and coordination between line departments including KVK, PRI, Private Sector and Planning Units at district level. – Finalization of District Annual Action Plans – Review of the progress of implementation of Extension Reform, RKVY and NFSM. – Convening meetings of GB, ATMA – Hold ATMA Management Committee Meetings – Serve as Member Secretary of District Level Committee suggested in the guidelines
2. Deputy Project Director – I	– Overall responsible for research related issues and activities – Review & prioritization of local research needs based on SREP. – Coordination and follow-up with KVK and other R&D institution for assessment, refinement, validation and adoption of new technologies. – Organizing district level R-E-F interface, KrishiMelas/ Exhibition etc. – Capacity building of extension functionaries of all line departments in collaboration with KVKs and other institutions.
3. Deputy Project Director – II	– Serve as Member Secretary of ATMA MC – Coordination with Line Departments including Pvt. Sector.
4.Computer Programmer/Computer Operator	– To maintain the Extension Reforms portal up to date and maintain the complete data related to the scheme. – Maintain and update data of the District of all other web based portal under NeGP-A or other initiatives in Agriculture and allied sectors.
5.Accountant-cum-establishment-clerk	– To maintain up to date account of the scheme

Block Level

1.Assistant Technology Manager (ATM)	– To provide requisite technical & knowledge support to farm school, FF, FIGs/CIGs/FSGs/FPOs and farmers in general. – In consultation with Block level officers of agri. and allied departments & BTMs, ATMs will provide necessary inputs to Common Service Centers &Kisan Call Centres. – Any other work assigned by BTM.	Graduate/ Post Graduate in Agri./ Allied Sector (Preferably one year Experience)
2.Block Technology Manager (BTM)	– Coordination with line departments – Organizing meetings of BTTs & FACs, Feedback to BTT and ATMA – Assist the BTT in the preparation of BAPs – Operationalisation of Farm Schools – Compilation of progress of implementation – Advise to the farmers/ FIGs/ CIGS/ FPOsin consultation with line departments. – Maintain an inventory of FIGs/FOs/CIGs/ FPOs within the Block. – BTM will also assist the BTT in carrying out functions listed at Annexure-I(e)	Post Graduate** in Agri./ Allied Sector with computer skill (Experience: Minimum 2 years field experience in Agri.)

 

• Major Farm Oriented Activities Organized during 2018-19 West Godavari District

S.No	Activity	Physical (No)	Financial (Rs. In Lakhs)	No of Farmers covered
1.	Trainings	60	7.800	4176
2.	Demonstrations	313	22.26	313
3.	Exposure visits	15	2.688	282
4.	Kisan Melas	31	12.400	4686
5.	Farmer Awards	120	1.0215	120
6.	Innovative activities	28	14.5875	83
7.	Field days	15	2.805	2736
8.	Information Dissemination	24	2.4	1466
	Total	606	65.9620	13862

 

• Activities Organised in Coordination with JDA and Allied Departments.

S.No	Name of the activity done		Expenditure incurred (IN Rs.)	Coordinating Department(JDA/Horitculture/AH/ Sericulture etc)
1	Demonstrations	Funds Rs.11,50,000/-were released to Joint Director of Agriculture @ Rs.25,000/-  each mandal for conduct of  46 ZBNF Polambadi for Kharif 2018 one per each mandal.	1150000	JDA
2	Kisan Mela	Conducted District Level Eruvaka Purnima  (28-06-2018) at Kokkirapadu Village of Pedapadu Mandal of Denduluru Assembly Constituency and 14 Assembly Constituencies	430000	JDA
3	Information and Dissemination	Printing of posters & pamphlets for HT Cotton	5500	JDA
4	Innovative Activity	Funds Rs.7,20,000/-were released to Joint Director of Agriculture @ Rs.30,000/-  for 24 Mandal one per each mandal. The Target and Achievement of the delta mandals suitable to adopt fish paddy horticulture units	720000	JDA
5	Kisan Mela	The celebration of World Honey Bee Day on 20-05-2018.The farmers will be mobilised from the different mandals by the Horticulture Departmental staff.	20000	Horticulture
6	Kisan Mela	Conducted the  Kisanmela on 06-04-2018 at  Andhra Pradesh Rice Research Institute & Regional Agricultural Research Station, Maruteru,West Godavari District.	100000	ARS,Maruteru
7	Kisan Mela	Conducted Mahila Kisan Diwas on 15-10-2018 at KVK Venktramannagudem	230000	JDA
8	Kisan Mela	Towards conduct of PM KISAN SAMMAN on 24.02.2019	280000	JDA
9	Demonstrations	Conducted of Demonstration on management of fall army worm (FAW) on maize at V.R.Gudem, T.P.Gudem, Ghantavarigudem & Buttayagudem	24000	KVK, V.R.GUDEM
10	Innovative Activity	Conducting  Survey, Surveillance and empowerment of extension functionaries of Department of Agriculture and farmers on invasive and exotic pest, spodoptera, frugiperda (fall army worm) on maize (by convergence)	398750	Maize Research Station
Total			3358250

 

Funds released during Kharif 2019 for different ATMA Activities in Twelve Agriculture Sub- Divisions (Block Technology Team (BTTs))

S.No	Name of the  BTT/ Sector	Trainings @ Rs.5,000/-		Demonstrations @ Rs.4,000/- Per Acr		Exposure Visit With in the District @ Rs.6,000/-		Exposure Inter State @ Rs.40,000/-		Operational Expenses for block level @ Rs.15,000/-		Farm Schools @ Rs.26,740/-		Total
		Phy	Fin	Phy	Fin	Phy	Fin	Phy	Fin	Phy	Fin	Phy	Fin	Phy	Fin
1	Eluru	7	0.35	8	0.32	5	0.30			2	0.30	2	0.5348	24	1.8048
2	Bhimadole	7	0.35	12	0.48	5	0.30			2	0.30	1	0.2674	27	1.6974
3	Chintalapudi	7	0.35	8	0.32	5	0.30			2	0.30	2	0.5348	24	1.8048
4	Tadepalligudem	8	0.40	12	0.48			1	0.40	2	0.30	1	0.2674	24	1.8474
5	Kovvuru	8	0.40	18	0.72	6	0.36			2	0.30	1	0.2674	35	2.0474
6	K.R.Puram	10	0.50	14	0.56			1	0.40	2	0.30	1	0.2674	28	2.0274
7	Tanuku	7	0.35	8	0.32	4	0.24			2	0.30	1	0.2674	22	1.4774
8	Maruteru	6	0.30	4	0.16			2	0.80	2	0.30	1	0.2674	15	1.8274
9	Palakol	8	0.40	10	0.40			2	0.80	2	0.30	1	0.2674	23	2.1674
10	Narasapuram	6	0.30	6	0.24			2	0.80	2	0.30	1	0.2674	17	1.9074
11	Bhimavaram	6	0.30	6	0.24			2	0.80	2	0.30	1	0.2674	17	1.9074
12	Akiveedu	7	0.35	6	0.24			2	0.80	2	0.30	1	0.2674	18	1.9574
TOTAL		87	4.35	112	4.48	25	1.50	12	4.80	24	3.60	14	3.7436	274	22.4736

Note: The above funds are released from balances of 2018-19 and budget is yet to be received from the Commissioner and Director of Agriculture(State Nodal Officer), Guntur for 2019-20.

Demonstrations: (Department wise)

S.No	Department	No.	Expenditure (In Lakhs)
1	Agriculture	257	19.94
2	Animal Husbandry	33	1.32
3	Fisheries	5	0.20
4	Horticulture	14	0.56
5	KVK Venkatramannagudem	4	0.24
Total		313	22.26