Dr. Parveen Kumar*
India has been predominantly a rural country with two thirds of its population still residing in rural areas. India’s 70% workforce belongs to rural areas. Father of Nation Late Mahatma Gandhi had once remarked that India lives in her villages. The rural growth and development drive the overall growth and development of India as the rural economy of India constitutes around 50% in national income of India, thus, the rural economy of India is backbone of the Indian economy. Agriculture is a sector which is the source of livelihood for about 50% of the country’s population living in rural settings. In some families all the members are engaged in this noble profession. Agricultural development is crucial to the development of country as well as for rural development. With a focus on the agriculture sector and ensuring that the relevant technologies reach out to the farmers well in time, rural development can be more inclusive as well as more effective.
The Krishi Vigyan Kendras are district level units catering to the diverse needs of a district, some of which have different agro-climatic zones, different farming situations, and consequently different needs of different stakeholders. Presently, each KVK has a team of six scientists of different disciplines with each one taking care of the subject matter of his/her domain. Although, the initial idea of setting up of these KVKs was to provide vocational training to rural youths in agriculture and other allied sectors; but with the passage of time the roles and responsibilities of these KVKs has changed. Today KVKs provide a platform for interface between farmers, researchers and extension functionaries to address the problems of agriculture and allied sectors. These institutions are engaged in on farm testing to assess the location specific needs of the farm sector, front line demonstrations to establish production potential of technologies on farmers’ fields; to conduct training programmes for farmer, youths, farm women for their skill development, to act as a resource and knowledge centre of agricultural technologies for supporting initiatives of public and private sector for improving the agricultural economy of the country and the state in particular in which they are located and to provide agro advisories to the farming community using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and other tools.
With the passage of time KVKs mandate has underwent a transformation from a single commodity approach to a broad based that now includes not only cereal crops but to other crops like horticultural, medicinal, oilseed, pulses and all other crops that are grown within the concerned district. From Technology Assessment and Refinement (TAR), the mandate of KVKs has now changed to Technology Assessment and Demonstration for its for its wider Application and Capacity Development (TADA-CD). Besides, KVKs are now training young person to become entrepreneurs, providing farm and weather advisory services, celebration of important days, and in devising technologies that help in drudgery reduction. There is also a lot of reporting work in the KVKs. So a meagre strength of six, finds itself overloaded and difficult to cope with the increasing responsibilities. Also a single KVK in districts having population in crores is not sufficient to cater to the needs of all.
A statement of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) reveals that there are 731 Krishi Vigyan Kendras’ in the country of which 38 are under the control of state governments, 66 under ICAR institutes, 103 under NGOs, 506 under State Agricultural Universities, 3 under Central universities, 3 under Public Sector Undertakings, 7 under deemed to be universities and 5 under other Educational institutes. Uttarpradesh leads the states in having the maximum 89 KVKs. All the KVKs are now under 11 different Agricultural Technology Application Research Institutes (ATARI) previously called as Zonal Project Directorates (ZPDs).
A third party evaluation of KVKs was carried out by National Institute of Labour Economics Research and Development (NILERD), an autonomous institute under NITI Aayog in 2018 came out with findings which reveal that the KVKs all across the country are doing a tremendous job accomplishing and achieving many milestones. The evaluation found that KVKs are playing a proactive role in transferring new technology at field level with beneficial impacts and that these institutes have an edge over other service providers by virtue of having better technical expertise and demonstration abilities. The technologies demonstrated by KVKs were immediately adopted by 40 percent of the farmers and 25 percent adopted them by the next agricultural season. On an average a KVK covers 43 villages and 4300 farmers every year and 80% of villages covered are 10 kilometers away from KVK. The evaluation further said that 96 percent of the farming queries were attended by the KVKs and 42% technologies adopted by farmers resulted in higher productivity and 20 percent resulted in drudgery reduction. About 25% of the persons trained by KVKs started their own self employment ventures.
A meta-analysis study by Bhuvana and his associates in 2019 also revealed that the farmers who are beneficiaries of KVK activities like ‘on farm testing’, ‘front line demonstration’, ‘training’ and other KVK activities are 2.62 times, 3.40 times, 1.37 times and 2.01 times more probable to fall in high socio-economic status, knowledge level, the extent of adoption and farmer’s income score category, compared to non-beneficiary farmers and the KVK’s activities have a positive impact on farmers of India to have higher socio-economic status with improved knowledge level, the extent of adoption of scientific technologies and farmer’s income. Another study by Rathore and Sadana (2023) concluded that Krishi Vigyan Kendra is contributing a lot to rural development through its multidisciplinary teamwork in a participative mode with different farming communities and provides training and proper guidance to improve the skills of rural people.
Overall KVKs drive rural development by Transfer of Technology. KVKs conduct On-Farm Testing (OFT) and Frontline Demonstrations (FLD) which prove the viability of modern technologies and practices directly to rural farmers. The Skill Development & Entrepreneurship programmes of the Kendras providing training to farmers, rural youth, and women, focusing on allied agricultural sectors like dairy, poultry, bee-keeping, and food processing to establish various ventures thereby enabling youths to become job providers instead of job seekers. As a Resource Centers, they operate as district knowledge hubs and provide real-time agro-advisories (e.g., weather updates, soil testing, pest control), ensuring rural communities have the data needed to protect their harvests and increase productivity. KVKs also help in empowerment of farming communities by Promoting Collectivization through Self Help Groups (SHGs), Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) and Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) allowing small-scale rural farmers to access better markets and negotiate prices. Key digital programmes of KVKs like Kisan Sarthi, m Kisan & Digital Outreach platforms help them to send millions of advisories annually to registered farmers, offering timely, localized solutions. Through initiatives like ‘Attracting and Retaining Youth in Agriculture (ARYA)’ KVKs are equipping rural youth to start independent agri-enterprises and creation of assets, curbing rural-to-urban migration. To tackle climate change, KVKs are also spearheading the establishment of ‘Climate Smart Villages’ promoting resource-saving farm practices like zero-tillage, integrated farming systems (IFS), and recycling of organic wastes.
It can thus be concluded that as engines of growth, the KVKs are propelling rural development through agricultural development. These institutions have on every occasion lived up to the expectations of farming community as well as of the government and its various agencies. As front line extension institutions, they have no substitute and thus have to be strengthened. At the same time it is also necessary that the human resources working there should not feel discriminated and a victim of apathy and neglect.
*The author writes on agriculture and social issues; can be reached at [email protected]
