Shram Sadhana Amravati

Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Durgapur, Dist. Amravati has been established in July,1995 with the responsibilities to bring forth agricultural vis-a vis rural development in the area through its mandated activities on training, front line demonstrations and on farm testing/adaptive trials. Ever since it became functional in the year 1996, it has made several innovative interventions in the agricultural development process of the district. Shram Sadhana, Amravati being a pioneer voluntary organization in the field of women and child development and water conservation work, the major focus was to develop the villages facing acute shortage of irrigation water to fulfill the minimum requirements of the farmers. Keeping this aspect in view, KVK applied its efforts to develop rain water harvesting models. KVK has introduced various water conservation models such as small farm ponds, Gabbian structures, Wanrai bandhara, and low cost rain water harvesting structures benefitting 158 farmers from Isambri village. The model developed by KVK as part of demonstrating rain water harvesting technologies has become a living example and it is replicated by State Department of Agriculture as Isambri Model after the name of the village where 441 TCM rain water was harvested by using all water conservation structures. Development of farming system module for rainfed farmers, sustainable dry land agriculture, in-situ soil and water conservation practices to increase productivity in rainfed conditions, up-gradation of local goat by Usmanabadi buck are only few of the numerous contributions made by the kendra within a short span of time. , KVK focused its directions towards Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in cotton and chickpea with the concept of block demonstrations. The villages namely Kohala Jateshwar, Nimbhora, Pala, Kajana, Khartalegaon, Sawarkhed, Kumagarh, Lehgaon, etc. are developed as IPM villages. This technology is being practiced on more than 500 ha of area in these villages and diffusion of technology is observed in every village of the district. The average cost of cultivation of IPM farmer reduced to ` 6300 per acre as compared to ` 7900 per acre before IPM with 28 per cent increase in productivity. Application of chemical pesticide sprays have been reduced to 2 to 3 as compared to 8 to 10 before IPM. More than 45 per cent increase in net income is observed in IPM trained farmers. Now, the KVK is identified as a resource centre for IPM technology particularly in cotton, chickpea, soybean and Nagpur Mandarin. , Krishi Vigyan Kendra has also established a Model Farm to disseminate and demonstrate the agro techniques suitable to the local farming community in the district for sustainable development. This model farm, equipped with modern irrigation system has important horticultural crops like guava, sweet Nagpur Mandarin, Nagpur Mandarin, sapota, custard apple and mango developed on 4 ha area to cater to the need of farmers in the district. Out of the total land 6 ha is utilized for crop production purpose like crop cafeteria, seed production, technology demonstrations, farm trials, etc. Fodder crops are cultivated on 1 ha area and teak is planted on 0.80 ha land. The instructional farm also acts as a technology assessment centre before their transfer to the farmers of the operational area. The training cum demonstration units like nursery, fruit and vegetable processing, vermicomposting, bio-agents and biopesticide production, mushroom cultivation, spawn production, soybean processing, Information and communication technology with video conferencing facility and animal production are established to meet the training need of farmers and in order to supply the required quality material to them. The facilities for Soil and Water testing, Phyto diagnostic, Post Harvest Technology Laboratory and an Agricultural Technology Information Centre is available with the KVK. Facility for Nagpur Mandarin rootstock DNA testing is unique contribution of the KVK developed for Nagpur Mandarin growing farmers of the area. As a Village Agriculture Knowledge Hub, KVK adopted 7 villages in Amravati district to facilitate the farmers about market information, weather information, disease information at the village level. , The KVK acts as a vocational training centre to work at the grass root level for imparting need-based training and skills in the field of agriculture and rural development. KVK has offered trainings to 22430 participants by conducting 787 training programmes for its cliental with the help of its multidisciplinary team. 288 on farm trials are conducted for assessment and refinement of the recent agricultural technologies. Front line demonstrations are conducted on 1166 ha area covering 2232 farmers and in animal science 144 animals covering 144 farmers, in agriculture engineering frontline demonstrations conducted on farm implements on 143 ha area covering 196 farmers. With extension activities like Field days, Exhibitions, Kisan Mela, Diagnostic visits, Advisory services, Video Conferencing etc. KVK covered 2,17,947 farmers of the area. Helpline services and mobile messaging services are started by the KVK benefitting 9400 farmers. , In order to improve the socio-economic situation of the women in agriculture and for drudgery reduction 345 women self help groups are formed. KVK has formed 142 farmers club at village level to identify and communicate their problems related to agriculture and allied activities. KVK frequently organizes meetings for interaction between scientists and farmers. This has led to increased productivity and overall output of the village and has made a concrete difference to the standard of living of the villagers. , The growth of this KVK has been steady and relatively faster because, besides the support of the ICAR, it has financial as well as administrative linkages and support of the Govt. KVK is fully functional in its operational area with record achievements and has bagged award of excellence for best work done under ATMA project. Since inception the KVK has performed as lighthouse for farming community of the district and gained faith of the rural population and lot of reliability and trust of the farmers.