State Level
District Level
Andhra Pradesh
The State of Andhra Pradesh was formed on 1st
November, 1956 by merging the nine districts of Telangana region of Hyderabad
State, with those of Andhra State. Andhra state was itself formed on 1st
October 1953 by partitioning the composite Madras State. Hence the origin and
development of Agriculture Department in Andhra Pradesh relates to the origin
and development of the Agriculture Department in Madras and Hyderabad States.
Composite Madras State
In the composite Madras State, a separate
Agriculture Department was created in the year 1906 with a Director of
Agriculture and necessary subordinate staff. Since then, there had been gradual
expansion of the departmental activities like Agricultural Education, Research
and Extension. In the war years i.e., 1939-44, the need for increasing
agricultural production was keenly felt and countrywide Grow More Food Campaign
was launched with the specific object of increasing production during post-war
reconstruction. The Agriculture Department was strengthened at all levels to
cope up with the enlarged activities and for the successful implementation of
various grow more food schemes in the state.
The Department of Agriculture established the
College of Agriculture at Bapatla during 1945.
Hyderabad State
The Agriculture Department in Hyderabad State
was established in the year 1911. Since then, the Department maintained steady
progress and expansion. Between 1911 and 1952 a number of research stations
were established for tackling different agronomic problems. At the same time,
an engineering branch was also established and strengthened gradually for the
improvement of agricultural implements, to assist the public in installing
pumpsets, drilling deep bores, training oil engine drivers, etc. With the
commencement of Grow More Food Campaign all over the country during the war
years, a number of new developmental schemes were implemented and as a result,
the Department had got expanded to a considerable extent by providing staff for
Research and Extension. Osmania University had established first Agriculture
College, in Hyderabad Sate in its campus during 1946.
Organisational Changes
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After the formation of Andhra Pradesh in 1956, the Department was made
responsible for Research, Education, Extension, Agricultural Engineering,
Marketing and Publicity.
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During February 1962, the Marketing Wing of the Department of Agriculture was
separated and a separate Department of Marketing was created.
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Consequent on the formation of Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University during
1965-1966 the Research and Education Wing. i.e., Agricultural Research Stations
and Agricultural Colleges of the Department were transferred to the university.
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In the same year 1966, publicity wing of the Department was also separated and
merged with the Information and Public Relations Department.
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Consequent on the establishment of the Andhra Pradesh Agro-Industries
Corporation Limited, the departmental rigs and rock blasting units were
transferred to the Corporation with effect from 2nd January,1969. The drilling
staff were also deputed to the Corporation. Subsequently the agricultural
engineering machinery viz., bull-dozers, tractors, etc., were transferred to
the Corporation with effect from Ist June 1969.
The staff working in the above wings were given option to continue in the
Department or to get transferred to the newly created agencies.
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Even after the transfer of the Agricultural Colleges- Bapatla and Rajendranagar
to the Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University, Training Schools were retained
with the Agricultural Department. The Department arranges training in
specialised items like Soil Conservation, Plant Protection, Water Use
Management, implementation of schemes and enforcement of various Acts etc., for
the different cadres of technical staff. For this purpose, there are two Soil
Conservation Training Centers one at Hyderabad and the other at Ananthapur and
one Plant Protection Training Centre now redesignated as state level training
institute by name Agricultural Staff Training Institute at Hyderabad. Besides
there are two Vocational Agricultural Schools at Suryapet ( Nalgonda district )
and Yemmiganur ( Kurnool district ) in the state. These schools train the sons
of farmers in different aspects of improved agricultural practices. There are
three inservice training centres at Samalkot, Nandyal and Malthumeda to train
inservice Agril. Extn. Officers . There were seven farmers’ training centres at
Rajendranagar, Gopannapalem, Kalahasti, Nandyal, Suryapet, Bapatla and
Karimnagar for imparting training to farm men and women on package of practices
and on all farm operations including livestock, diary, poultry, fisheries etc.
Subsequently, the Farmers Training Centres have been established in all the
twenty two districts.
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The Agricultural Extension work in the Department of Agriculture has been
getting reorganised time and again based on requirements at a point of time. In
1960s, it was broadly based on Crop Development Schemes designed by Government
of India . At that time , based on these schemes, territorial jurisdiction was
fixed for various categories of staff i.e, Field Assistants/Sub-Assistants,
Agricultural Officers, Assistant Directors of Agriculture etc.
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Subsequently, as per M.T.Raju Committee report, the District post of District
Agricultural Officer, of the cadre of Asst. Director of Agriculture was
upgraded to that of Dy. Director of Agriculture and he was made to act as P.A.
to Collector (Agri.).
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The A.P.S.S.D.C.Ltd., was established in the year,1976. The functions of high
quality seed production and supply was transferred to A.P.S.S.D.C. since then.
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To ensure supply of high quality seeds with prescribed genetic purity, close
inspections are required and statutory certification is essential for this
purpose. A.P. State Seed Certification Agency was registered under the
provisions public societies (Telangana Area) Registration Act 1350 Fasli during
Phase.I of National Seed Project and the Agency commenced its operations from
1.6.1977. Accordingly , the functions of Seed Certification were transferred to
Seed Certification Agency from 1.6.1977.
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With the creation of Directorate of Sugars in the year 1976, Sugarcane Wing has
got separated from Department of Agriculture.
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Separate Horticulture Department was created, by bifurcating schemes meant for
development of Horticulture crops from Department of Agriculture in the year
1982.
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During 1976, the Extension Wing was again reorganised into two wings i.e,
Extension and Inputs. The Extension wing used to look after activities like
preparation of plans right from Farm Level, Village Level to District Level.
The input wing used to assess the input requirements and handle Departmental
godowns etc. During this period, certain states had implemented
T&V(Training and visit) system with the assistance of World Bank in the
command areas. In Andhra Pradesh, the following command areas were covered
under T&V system.
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N.S.P. Right Canal Area
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N.S.P. Left Canal Area.
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Sri Ram Sagar Project.
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T.G.P. H.L.C.
Based on the experience gained and the success
of the T&V Extension system ( Benor System) in the command areas in various
states and also in Andhra Pradesh it was decided to extend the same to all the
districts of the state. Consequently, the T & V programme came into being
and was implemented with World Bank Assistance from 1982 - 1989 . Subsequently
the staff under this T & V scheme were converted to non-plan and it is
still being followed with certain modifications.
The system emphasises professional approach and
finalization of technical messages to the farmers based on the consensus
arrived at after deliberations among Scientists, Extension Staff and Farmers.
It also believes in passing of the messages through well structured system.
The State trading schemes involving procurement
and sale of inputs like seeds, fertilisers and pesticides were detached from
the Department since 1982, as detailed in the earlier paras.
Subsequently during 1993, for better span of
control and enforcement of quality control orders, the key supervisory cadre
(ie., ADA) were reorganised by creating geographical agricultural sub divisions
comprising 2 - 8 Mandals and by redeployment of subject matter specialists as
Asst. Directors of Agriculture in the newly created offices to operate
independently in the limited jurisdiction. Earlier to this reorganisation, the
territorial jurisdiction of A.D.A. was synonymous with the Revenue Division.
Now 254 A. D.A.(R) offices are functioning in the State.
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