Revision summary
A Technology Mission is a time-bound, multi-agency push on one farm commodity or constraint. It bundles research, seed, extension, machinery, and post-harvest, not only a lab variety. Oilseeds 1986, pulses, cotton, coconut, and horticulture are the classic Indian cases. Objectives: close import or quality gaps, transfer technology, and make extra output marketable. NFSM, NMOOP, and NMSA later inherited the same mission logic.
Model answer
Introduction
A Technology Mission in Indian agriculture is a time-bound, mission-mode programme that bundles research, extension, seed, processing, and sometimes price support around one commodity or constraint. The model was used from the mid-1980s so that a single gap—oilseeds, pulses, cotton, or wasteland—did not wait for the ordinary departmental calendar.
Body
Meaning
- Unlike a standing department scheme, a Technology Mission has a named target (self-sufficiency, yield, quality), a mission director, and converging ICAR, State agriculture universities, and input agencies.
- It treats technology as seed, agronomy, plant protection, farm machinery, and post-harvest, not only a laboratory variety release.
- Classic examples: Technology Mission on Oilseeds (1986), later oil palm and maize; Technology Mission on Pulses; Technology Mission on Cotton; coconut and horticulture missions that fed the National Horticulture Mission.
Objectives
- Close specific deficits: edible-oil imports after the 1980s, pulse protein gaps, cotton quality for mills, and horticulture for nutrition and exports.
- Transfer proven technology to farmers through demonstrations, minikits, and extension, not only gazette a new variety.
- Build processing, quality, and market links so that higher yield is not lost as glut or wastage.
- Coordinate credit, irrigation, and sometimes MSP or tariff so that the technology is economically usable.
Later evolution
- ISOPOM, NMOOP, National Food Security Mission (pulses/rice/wheat), and National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture inherited the same mission logic with climate and soil added.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD TM[Technology Mission] --> R[ICAR seed agronomy] TM --> E[Extension minikit] TM --> P[Processing market] R --> T[Commodity self-reliance] E --> T P --> T
Conclusion
In Indian agriculture a Technology Mission is a focused, multi-agency push on one commodity or constraint, combining research with seed, extension, and processing. Its objectives are self-reliance in a deficit crop, higher yield and quality, and a usable market for the extra output. The oilseed, pulse, cotton, and horticulture missions are the working examples of that meaning.
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Students also ask
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What is Cyber Security Science? Mention its importance.
Next question in the 2018 paper (Q6). View answer →
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Is every agriculture scheme a Technology Mission?
No. A Technology Mission is a named, time-bound convergence on one gap. Ordinary subsidies are not missions.
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Did the oilseed mission end import dependence?
It raised output, but edible-oil imports remained large; the mission closed only part of the gap.
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2021 · Q5 · UPGS3 · 8 marks
What is Technology Mission in agriculture? State its usefulness.
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