Agriculture Extension
Agriculture Extension
Agricultural Extension Service equips rural farming communities with agricultural education and knowledge. It is the vital mechanism which helps farmers in improving their capabilities by adopting and diffusing agricultural innovation. Transfer of agricultural knowledge through face-to-face advisory service, field demonstrations, use of mass media, electronic media & information & communication technologies (ICTs) is approach of Agriculture Extension Services. Agriculture Extension Sindh is playing a significant role for the development of agriculture of Sindh by this approach.
Main Functions:
- To disseminate the information relating to growth, management and marketing of crops through personal, group contact and various means of mass media.
- To educate and train farmers through modern techniques of sowing, irrigation, fertilizer application, insect pest, disease, weed control, harvesting & threshing of crops.
- To disseminate agriculture for nutrition among communities to prevent malnutrition in Sindh.
- To provide Agriculture Extension Services through Information & Communication Technologies (ICTs) for speedy advisory service to the farming community
- To initiate android application GPS coordinate based farmer field visits and online reporting.
- To serve as resource base for agricultural information and provide information to growers on issues like, insect pest outbreak, environmental changes etc.
- To introduce new crop and developed varieties and farm machinery & tools among growers, developed / recommended by Agriculture Research and Agriculture Engineering Wings.
- To guide growers how to use fertilizer, pesticide and weedicide to increase yield per hectare.
- To coordinate with input supplying organization for their timely availability.
- To collect information about the input requirements.
- To prevent adulteration of pesticides and fertilizers.
- To implement area and production targets of crops and collect agricultural statistics for sowing position of crops in the province.
- To supervise Market Committees in implementation of Agricultural Produce Markets Act. 1939.
- To co-ordinate with the Federal Agencies and to provide information base for policy decisions.
- To conduct Field Assistants (FAs) & Stock Assistants courses at Agriculture Training Institute (ATI) Sakrand& Jacobabad
- To conduct trainings & refresher courses for Officers & Field Staff of Agriculture Extension Sindh
- To develop &implement system of “Desert Locust Surveillance and control operation in Sindh”
- To provide subsidized equipment under different schemes to the farming community to control post-harvest losses
- To disseminate agricultural information among farming community through mass, electronic & print media under Directorate of Information Agriculture Extension Sindh Hyderabad
- To publish monthly Sindh Zara’at Magazine, other brochures & booklets
New initiatives of Agriculture Extension Sindh:
- Information & Communication Technologies (ICTs) Agricultural Extension Services:
Agriculture Extension Services are the main source of farmers’ advisory services in Sindh Province. These are mostly provided through face-to-face methods however the ratio of extension agents to farmers is poor (1: 6,881). In the prevailing conditions of low proportion of Agriculture Extension agents to farmers and high use of cellular Phones farming communities, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can play significant role to fill the communication gap. In this regard, Directorate General Agriculture Extension Sindh has established ICT Agricultural Extension Services Centre in Hyderabad on 8th November 2018 to provide ICT Agricultural Extension Services to the farming community and strengthen the existing Extension Services system by equipping field staff with ICT tools and approach, to enhance their capacity.
Key activities of the Center:
- Make the Farmer Call Center No. 03111646111 known to farmers and respond to their calls
- Dispense farmer field advisory service & online field staff reporting through android mobile phone application sindh agriculture extension - Android Apps on Google Play.
- Disseminate agricultural information & facilities of advisory services through android mobile phone application ICT Agriculture Extension Services Sindh - Apps on Google Play.
- Receive and respond to Text and voice Short Message Services (SMS)
- Mobile Cinema Shows.
- Disseminate agriculture for nutrition information among farming communities and other stakeholders through Developed android application Agriculture for Nutrition - Apps on Google Play
- Reply farmers to their agricultural queries through social media on daily basis.
- Run the established website ictagrisindh.gov.pk
- Carry out the responsibility of three established sub centers of ICT Agricultural Extension Services Center Directorate General Agriculture Extension Sindh in Mirpurkhas, Larkano & Sukkur.
- Introduce Youth Agriculture & IT Hybridization internship etc.
- Prevent malnutrition by launching awareness campaign among farming community about nutrition sensitive agriculture to cultivate and consume nutritious food by the efforts of Agriculture Extension Sindh. Rooftop gardening, backyard gardening & fruit tree plantation awareness and advisory services are also being catered.