National Mission on Agriculture Extension and Technology (NMAET)
It was started in 2014 after amalgamation of 17 schemes from 11th 5 year plan related to Agricultural Technology, including the adoption/ promotion of critical inputs, and improved agronomic practices.
Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare is the nodal agency for this programme.
NMAET consists of 4 Sub Missions:
1. Sub Mission on Agricultural Extension (SMAE)
2. Sub-Mission on Seed and Planting Material (SMSP)
3. Sub Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM)
4. Sub Mission on Plant Protection and Plant Quarantine (SMPP)
All the states and Union territories in India are eligible for financial assistance under the National Mission on Agricultural Extension and Technology.
All farmers in the state are eligible for National Mission on Agricultural Extension and Technology
The aim of the Mission is to restructure and strengthen agricultural extension to enable delivery of appropriate technology and improved agronomic practices to farmers.
This is envisaged to be achieved by a judicious mix of extensive physical outreach and interactive methods of information dissemination, use of ICT, popularisation of modern and appropriate technologies, capacity building and institution strengthening to promote mechanisation, availability of quality seeds, plant protection etc. and encourage aggregation of Farmers into Interest Groups (FIGs) to form Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs).
In Union Budget 2017-18, Rs. 1712 crore has been allocated for this programme under 4 different Sub-Missions with different goals:
1. Sub Mission on Seeds and Planting Material (SMSP)- Rs. 200 crore (Organization of seed Villages programme in 30,000 villages, Increase in seed processing capacity by 90000 qtls, Creation of 1.30 lakh qtls seed storage capacity, Creation of seed reserve of 3.65 lakh qtls for contingency plans)
2. Sub Mission on Agriculture Extension- Rs. 912 crore (Conducting 173 courses for knowledge upgradation of extension functionaries, Training of 5500 Agripreneurs for developing agri-preneurship, Outreach programme benefiting 27664 farmers)
3. Sub Mission on Plant Protection and Plant Quarantine- Rs. 50 crore (Surveillance of Locust on 150 lakh ha, Monitoring of pest incidence on 9 lakh ha area in the country, Release of 3300 million bio-agents for biological control of pests, Augmentation and conservation of bio agents on 9 lakh ha, Analysis of 25800 samples for estimation of pesticides residues)
4. Sub Mission on Agricultural Mechanization- Rs. 550.00 crore (Training 15000 farmers, and other stakeholders, Establishment of 160 postharvest units, Promotion of Farm Mechanization in 5382 selected villages, Farm Machinery promotion in 2600 habitats in NER)
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