Implication of Participatory Communication in Indian Agricultural Development Context: Few Selected Strategies

India has registered substantial progress in agricultural development. Besides, remarkable growth in food production, improvement in socio-economic life of farming community can also be observed. Population explosion, illiteracy, malnutrition and environmental degradation have become the problems requiring much attention. In this scenario, the focus of development should be shifted to the grass root level, where the farmers need to involve themselves in the process of defining their problems and selecting alternatives based on their own knowledge and resources. This can only be achieved by the participatory communication, the essence of success of which depends on the participation of people starting from needs identification to media utilization. Participatory need based trainings lead to skill development and adoption of new skills whereas horizontal spread of technology between farmers depends upon its usefulness and ease of adoption. Therefore, an attempt has been made to analyze the lessons of participatory communication for development and their implication.