Agriculture is the backbone of the Indian Economy as nearly 60% of the population of the country depend on agriculture and contribute 23% to the GDP. Tenth Five Year Plan and National Agriculture Policy documents envisage a growth level of 4% in Agriculture as against the average growth of less than 2% in the last 50 years. The last decade commencing from 1990s was marked by post-Green Revolution fatigue and plateauing yield levels in many parts of the country. For sustained 4% growth in agriculture there is needed to improve productivity and cut down on costs by improving efficiency.

There is, therefore, an urgent need to provide package of initiatives for transfer of technology, improving input use efficiency, promoting investments in agriculture both in private and in public sectors and creating a favorable and enabling economic environment. The emerging needs in agriculture sector now are adoption of location specific skill and knowledge based technologies, promote greater value addition to agriculture produce, forge new partnerships between public institutions, technology users and the corporate sector, harness IT more effectively to realize financial sustainability and compete in the international market.

For transmitting the latest agriculture techniques to the Farmers’ field, orienting them to establish better relationship with banks, adoption of latest post-harvest handling technology, value addition, etc. and enjoy the benefits of collective bargaining power both for procuring inputs and to select their produce. The Farmer’s Club Programme is an appropriate and most suitable strategy initiated by NABARD in late 1982.