International Journal of Agriculture Extension and Social Development

author(s)
Chittaranjan Deka, Sajib Borua and Rituraj Boruah

abstract
The Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) is a registered society of key stakeholders involved in agricultural activities for sustainable agricultural development in the district. As the ATMA programme is under operation for the around last twenty years, the researchable questions that what are the problems faced by the ATMA personnel in planning and executing the programmes of ATMA. Keeping this view the objective of the present study to list out problems faced by the ATMA personnel in planning and executing the programmes of ATMA and the suggestions for improvement of bottom-up planning. The present study was conducted in two districts namely Kokrajhar and Bongaigaon of Assam during the year 2018-19. A multistage purposive cum random sampling method was followed for the selection of the respondents of the study. A total 242 nos. of GB, AMC, BTT and FAC members from two districts constituted the sample of respondents for the study. The findings highlighted that more than 70.00 percent of the GB and AMC members were faced the four problems like “Excessive work load besides the normal work of the Dept. like election, NRC and relief duty”, “Lack of mechanism/forum to discuss plans and actions of ATMA at District level”, “Overlapping of ATMA programmes with other programmes of the department” and “Inadequate fund for implementation of the programmes” in planning and executing the programmes of ATMA. Likewise the BTT and FAC members were also faced the different problems at different percent level in planning and executing the programmes of ATMA. Therefore, an effective policy and strategy on the parts of state coordinating unit and district ATMA could overcome these problems for efficiently planning and executing the different activities of ATMA by the extension personnel.