THE Yashwantrao Chavan Academy for Development Administration (YASHADA) will be hosting a western region workshop on agriculture for the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh between September 14 and 15 to discuss the comprehensive District Agriculture Plan (DAP).
This is in the wake of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s recent initiative asking states to come out with their individual DAPs shortly.
The Planning Commission had a preliminary interface with the collectors and Chief Executive Officers of 25 districts in the country on November 11 last year after which it was proposed that four regional workshops should be held in different parts of the country.
For the state, four districts — Akola, Solapur, Aurangabad and Dhule have been selected and the objective of the workshop is to reorient agriculture planning at district level, to address productivity and livelihood issues as well as include participatory planning through convergence strategies.
The workshops are being undertaken with the understanding that a top down approach is not sustainable and this kind of planning can help double agriculture growth with regard to supply and demand, said Deputy Director General (Research) of YASHADA KS Nair. Besides viable options, constraints too will be discussed.
The workshop will look at bottom up planning and participatory mode. From participatory input from grass roots to panchyat views and concurrence, the workshop will also address the development of agriculture livelihood related plans. With the thrust being laid on participatory involvement, what is being envisaged is to focus on inputs as well as constraints and begin thinking in terms of livelihood.