Evaluation of Value-Added Agricultural Advisory Services: Case Study of Agriclinics in Southern India

The Indian national program of agriclinics and agribusiness centers, started in 2002, aims to provide farmers with a reliable alternative to the private input dealer by subsidizing technically trained agricultural graduates to establish their own agricultural input shops and agriclinic laboratories. In 2008, Tamil Nadu state began its own version of the program, called Agriclinics cum Mini Soil Testing Laboratories, which provides subsidized funding to establish soil testing laboratories by primary agricultural cooperative banks (PACBs) or independent agricultural graduates. This paper evaluates farmers’ usage of the program using data collected from a survey conducted in November 2010 of 393 households across 11 agriclinics in 2 districts of Tamil Nadu. [IFPRI Discussion Paper 01125]. URL:[http://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/publications/ifpridp01125.pdf].