AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION-Irrelevance of Models and Systems

December 1, 1973 AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION Irrelevance of Models and Systems (From a Special Correspondent) THE last of thethree Sardar patel Memorial Lectures delivered this year at the India International Centre by M S Swaminatham Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, was devoted to the problem of communication between agricultural scientists and farmers. Agricultural technology needed to change the face of rural India already existed, but, according to Swa- rninathan, the main problem was the lack of suitable mechanisms for transferring it to the country's illiterate and small cultivators. The problem is a real one; at the same time, it is too complex to be interpreted only in terms of lack of 'communication mechanisms'. For instance, unless there is something worthwhile