Agriculture scientists and technologists should consider farmers as research collaborators and not just targets of extension services, said noted scientist and chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Yash Pal.
Pal was delivering his inaugural address at the foundation day celebration of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Society in Delhi on Monday. He said, ?The scientists and technologists of ICAR can begin to consider millions of farmers in the country as research collaborators and not just targets of extension programmes.?
?The whole country can become a laboratory with the world?s largest collection of collaborators and innovators. I suggest that… the new connectivity is developed and used more for such a collaboration and not for corporate operations using what farmers produce,? he added.
He expressed his concern over the implicit assumption of the elite class and decision-makers in the country that ultimate configuration of agriculture is bound to be the same as in North America. He cautioned that such a measure would lead to agriculture becoming a mega-industry, with only a few producers.