Research, Extension, and Aggregate Agricultural 



Productivity in a Major Developing Country: 



The Case of India 



A strong functional relationship between research and agricul- 

 tural productivity is indicated by the findings of the international 

 comparative analyses of this study as well as by those of other 

 studies. • Such studies, however, are open to the criticism that 

 they are based heavily on evidence from developed countries. 

 The Indian experience is in many respects ideal in helping to seek 

 an answer to the question of whether the same relationship holds 

 for regions lacking the research and extension institutions typical 

 of American and European agriculture. India is a large country 

 with a varied climate and has undertaken significant research and 

 extension programs as part of its development effort in the past 

 twenty-five years. 



In a sense, India has performed a set of ''experiments" in 

 which hypotheses regarding the contribution of research and ex- 

 tension to production can be tested. In the past twenty-five years, 

 the relative levels of investment in research activity have varied 

 greatly according to geoclimate region within the country. The 

 existing extension program has been introduced at different rates 

 in the states and districts. Also, a major "experiment" in the form 

 of a specialized, extension-oriented, "intensive" program has 

 been pursued in several selected districts since the early 1960s. 



The first section of the chapter presents calculated rates of 

 growth of total factor productivity in the states of India. Data on 

 the agricultural research system are presented in the next, while 

 the third concentrates upon a statistical analysis of the relation- 

 ship between research and productivity. Separate sections are 

 devoted to economic implications and to an analysis of the effects 

 of the Intensive Agricultural District Program. 



I. See chapter 1 for a review of some of these studies. 



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