Institutional Silence in Agrarian Crisis: A Bibliometric Interrogation of Extension Research's Structural Blindness to Farmer Distress

Abstract

Aim: This study examines why Indian agricultural extension research has shown limited substantive engagement with farmer distress though the extensive proximity of extension institutions to farmers

Methodology: A bibliometric-comparative design was applied to three independently constructed Scopus corpora: a farmer-distress corpus, an India-specific extension corpus and their intersection. Cross-domain term frequencies were examined, 66 intersection records were screened and directly relevant studies were thematically analysed.

Results: The study identified 446 distress records, 2,493 extension records and 66 intersection records, of which only 9 were directly relevant. Cross-domain terms were largely absent across titles, abstracts and keyword fields. The resulting comparative ratio was 356 India specific extension records for every directly relevant record.

Interpretation: The pattern is consistent with an institutional mandate boundary rather than a simple topic gap. Extension has proximity to farmers, but distress identification and response have not been incorporated as a routine function. International examples indicated the response possibility, referral-oriented roles are feasible, although this adoption in India would require appropriate training, staffing, referral capacity and privacy safeguards.