ATMA KHUNTI
Indian agriculture has made spectacular progress in the last few decades.Adoption of high yielding varieties, use of fertilizers and chemicals during a phase termed Green Revolution had increased food production from 58.0 mt in 1950 to 200.0 mt in 1998-99. The achievement of green revolution has so far been limited to food crops only and that too to a limited extent in Jharkhand. Green revolution could have been a reality only if it satisfied the multiple needs of the rural economy.
The present system of planning and implementation of agriculture and allied development programme is centralized and mainly top-down in nature which is done in isolation and not done with the involvement of end users and benificiaries.The problem in agriculture and allied sector differ strikingly from situation to situation.
Khunti district of Jharkhand was selected as a ATMA district in the year 2008- 09 and was Notified on 29.01.2009 under extension reforms programmes of ministry of Agriculture, Government of India. An autonomous institution registered under society act in the name of Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) to carry out the project activities in collaboration with different line departments like – Agriculture, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries, Plant protection along with the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), NGOs and representatives of various stakeholders of the agricultural production system. The participatory methodology to reflect the issues, needs and expectations of farming community. The main steps followed for preparation of strategic Research and Extension Plan (SREP) are as follows.