Intensive Agriculture district programme - (1960)

            The Intensive Agriculture District Programme (IADP) was launched as the first major experiment in intensive agriculture development in the year 1960.

            The inadequate rate of growth of agriculture during 1950's was a matter of serious concern to the government. The steep fall in crop productions in the drought year 1957-58 focused attention on the seriousness of the food situation up substantially. In these circumstances, the government of India invited a team of agriculture experts sponsored by the Ford Foundation to make a careful study of Indian agriculture and make recommendations future actions. The team visited India early in 1959 and submitted its report entitled "India's food crisis and steps to meet it in April that year. The team observed that "India is facing a crisis in food production. The crux of the problem is food   enough for the rapid increasing population. The team went on to say that "this target (of 110 million tones) can be achieved if an all out emergency food production programme is undertaken. The best in Indian agriculture is camparable to the best in other countries, but the average level is unduly low. The task before the country is to develop ways of raising the low average to the higher levels that many Indian cultivators have achieved.

           The Government of India accepted in general, the recommendations made by this team. The IADP popularly known as package programme was launched in there districts in 1960 - 61 and four districts in 1962 - 63. The seven districts were:

1. Thanjavur (Tamil Nadu)
2. West Godavari (Andhra Pradesh)
3. Shahabad (Bihar)
4. Raipur (Madhya Pradesh)
5. Aligarh (Uttar Pradesh)
6. Ludhiana (Punjab)
7. Pali (Rajasthan)              

 In the second phase the programme was extended to nine more districts by 1963 - 64. In addition to these, this progrmme has now been extended to 12 more districts in the country and is in operation in 28 districts in all.

Objective:

The major objectives of the programme were to demonstrate the most effective ways of achieving rapid and significant increase in agriculture production through adoption of a package of improved practices and to suggest successful and adoptable innovations, approaches and procedures which could be adopted in similar areas of the country.

           The programme envisaged the selection of favourable areas maximum irrigation facilities and minimum of natural hazards, providing simultaneously all the essential elements of production such as adequate supply of fertilizers credit etc. It aims at an integrated and intensified approach to the problem of agricultural production in areas which are more responsive to such production efforts. As its immediate goal, the programme sought to achieve rapid increase in the level of agricultural production through a concentration of financial technical, extension and administrative resources. In the long run it aimed at a self - generating break through in productivity and raising the production potential by stimulating the human and physical process of change.

      As this programme demanded more intensive work, the number of village level extension workers was doubled in the community development blocks in the IADP districts. Along with the number of extension officers, the cooperative staff were also increased at the block and district levels.

     IADP was a pace - sitting demonstrational programme which showed how to increase production more rapidly on one hand and a path finding experimental programme which facilitated the development of new innovations, new ideas and procedures for wider adoption in agriculture development.

    It had covered all the important cash crops grown in the districts although emphasis was to be laid on the major food - grain crops such as paddy, wheat and millets

    While the role of the central government was to provide overall direction, guidance and coordination, the programme was of the state government financed by the ford foundation through the central government now the programmed is financed by state government in 28 districts where it is in operation.