This transformation has come about as a result of all-round efforts at modernising Indian agriculture, providing it with modern inputs like improved seeds, fertilisers and pesticides, better cultivation methods, application of modern tools and farm equipment etc.

More significantly, it is the Indian farming community which has risen to the practical challenges of fast-changing technology and other requirements of modern agricultural practices. Rapid strides in modern technology and crop cultivation techniques have, however, necessitated comprehensive and continuous farmer education, to achieve greater heights in agricultural performance.

Given the huge size and spread of the Indian farming community, across the vast Indian subcontinent, educating and training farmers in modern agricultural methods and practices has become a major challenge demanding institutional and manpower resources.

While government agencies have been trying to provide agricultural extension and training programmes for farmers, they are still unable to fully meet the demand for such services and training. Besides they have often been ineffective due to bureaucratic delays and inadequate financial resources, leaving a large section of the farming community outside its purview.

However, given the fact that farmers are consumers of modern agrochemicals, the use of  which requires knowledge of modern agricultural practices, the corporate sector too can play a useful role in creating awareness.

The Tata Group has been among the pioneering corporate groups to have realised this need and enter into the arena of providing farmers’ extension services, as a support service proposition with a wide market portfolio of agricultural inputs like fertilisers, pesticides, etc.

Tata Chemicals Ltd., a group company involved in agrochemicals, took the initiative to launch Tata Kisan Kendras (TKKs) as a integrated educational and training institution and set up the first such centre in 1998.

The mission statement for TKKs is: "To provide the farmer with a package of inputs and services for optimum utilisation of balanced primary nutrients; plant protection chemicals; water; seeds; post-harvest services; and to develop a genuine partnership with the farmer."

These centres were conceived as a one-stop platform for farmers, offering holistic solutions from the stage of sowing of seeds to post-harvest management and marketing of agricultural produce.

Initially, Tata Chemicals proposed to set up at least 40 TKKs and 800 franchisee kendras in north India, mainly in the command areas of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana. Fourteen TKKs and 215 more franchisee outlets (which are basically extensions of primary TKKs) have already been established.

There are more in the pipeline. In Punjab alone, the company plans to have six TKKs and 120 franchisee kendras, of which, the centre at Sunam was inaugurated on April 30, 2000. New centres are coming up in Rajpura, Muktsar, Jalandhar, Amritsar and Moga.

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