Agricultural Universities, Research Institutes, Krishi Vigyan Kendras have been generating ample technologies to improve the productivity and profitability of the farmers. How many of these technologies are reaching the farmers? Baseline Situation Assessment conducted by Partnership farming in India, in Gujarat and Maharashtra, clearly indicated that farmers with access to technical knowledge on agriculture realized better income compared to others. Fifty one percent of sample farmers who were part of partnership farming India had knowledge of soil testing compared to only 28% of control group. Mulching and intercropping as a practice were not widely adopted by control group of farmers. They were less aware about other organic fertilizers. Fertigation as a method of application of fertilizers was not widely practiced by control group. Farmers who accessed information from agricultural universities and magazines were less in number in the control group. The treatment farmers had an average yield of 35.65 tons and control farmers had yield of 22.36 tons of banana per acre. The average net income of the treatment farmers was Rs 93,822 and for the control farmers Rs.81,659. More than 85% of the farmers wanted basic education on agriculture and crop production and ready to pay for undergoing such basic education and training. There was a clear interest in the farmers to improve their skill and knowledge and they were ready to pay for the service.The above study clearly indicates that the knowledge gap is prevailing among farmers and those who have access to knowledge harvested better profits.Increase in productivity and profitability can be achieved through:
-Blending practical knowledge with scientific technologies
-Efficient use of natural resources
-Adopting time specific management practices
-Giving priority for quality driven production
-Adopting suitable farming systems
-Adoption of location specific technology
-Market demand driven production
-Adopting low cost and no cost technologies
