Agricultural Technology Information Centre (ATIC)

The primary goal of agricultural extension is to assist farming families in adapting their production and marketing strategies to rapidly changing social, political and economic conditions so that they can, in their long term, shape their lives according to their personal preferences and those of the community. The task of extension is to improve interactions with the Agriculture Knowledge System (AKS) so that farmers have optimum access to any information that could help them enhance their economic and social situation.

The five important needs of the farmers are;

1. Awareness of and motivation to use improved technologies / management practices.
2. Advice on appropriate farm planning and resource management.
3. Practical farming skills relevant to new technologies / management practices.
4. Production inputs and credits and
5. Post harvest and marketing services to farmers to get a good price in a competitive global agriculture.

Interestingly these needs of the farmers irrespective of their locations and farming practices are not realized by the existing transfer of technology projects. Hence a new and innovative transfer of technology mechanism named, Agricultural Technology Information Centre (ATIC) has been conceived and put into practice since 1998-99 under National Agricultural Technology Project (NATP) sponsored by World Bank and implemented through 40 ICAR Institutes and State Agricultural Universities (SAUs) located in various parts of the country. The Centre provides information on agriculture technologies in addition to providing other inputs like seeds, plant materials, etc. including advisory services through single window system. The ATIC is intended to provide formal management mechanism between the scientists and technology users. The Subject Matter Specialists of the University Consultancy Cell housed at ATIC building provide technical support to the farmers and others who visit ATIC. Thus, ATIC is functioning as a repository of agricultural information. The ATIC advisory committee is the advisory body at the University level under the chairmanship of the Vice-Chancellor.

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