CCEA approved implementation of National Mission Agricultural Extension and Technology

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved on 4 February 2014 the implementation of the National Mission on Agricultural Extension and Technology (NMAET) during the 12th Plan period.

The extension of NMAET and its components will be expanded and up-scaled appropriately and implemented in a more coordinated and convergent manner.

The Mission will have a total outlay of 13073.08 crore rupees with Government of India’s share of Rs. 11390.68 crore and State share of 1682.40 crore rupees.

NMAET consists of 4 Sub Missions

• Sub Mission on Agricultural Extension (SMAE)
• Sub-Mission on Seed and Planting Material (SMSP)
• Sub Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM)
• Sub Mission on Plant Protection and Plant Quarantine (SMPP)

The NMAET has been envisaged as the next step towards this objective through the amalgamation of these schemes.  
The Mission Document has been prepared in keeping with the recommendations of the Working Group of the Planning Commission and suggestions and inputs received from extensive consultation with stakeholders, particularly farmers.

The common threads running across all 4 Sub-Missions in NMAET are Extension and Technology. Therefore, while 4 separate Sub-Missions are being proposed for administrative convenience, these are inextricably linked to each other at the field level and most components thereof have to be disseminated among farmers and other stakeholders through a strong extension network.

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).