KVK portal will Help in Monitoring at the National Level and in Providing Timely Information and Advisory to the Farmers: Radha Mohan Singh

      The Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Radha Mohan Singh formally launched Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) portal (http://kvk.icar.gov.in) today in New Delhi. The Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri S.S Ahluwalia, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Parshottam Rupala, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Sudarshan Bhagat and Secretary, ADF, Shri Devendra Chaudhary also graced the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion  the Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare said that there are 645 Krishi VigyanKendra’s (KVKs) in the country. These centres are established in the Rural Districts of the country. Each KVK has direct interface with at least 1000 farmers. As the information related to KVK was not available at one place at the National Level, the farmers and other stakeholders had difficulty in accessing the information and also there was no online monitoring system at the National level to review and monitor the functioning of KVKs against the mandates and objectives. This portal will provide a platform to provide the information and advisory to the farmers and facilitate online monitoring of the KVK activities.

      Shri Singh said that the KVKs are the main center of knowledge and resource in the field of agriculture at the district level and this portal will help in monitoring at the National level and in providing timely information and advisory to the farmers.

Mandate and Activities of KVKs:

The mandate of KVK is Technology Assessment and Demonstration for its Application and Capacity Development.

To implement the mandate effectively, the following activities are envisaged for each KVK.

a)      On-farm testing to assess the location specificity of agricultural technologies under various farming systems.

b)      Frontline demonstrations to establish production potential of technologies on the farmers’ fields.

c)      Capacity development of farmers and extension personnel to update their knowledge and skills on modern agricultural technologies.

d)     To work as Knowledge and Resource Centre of agricultural technologies for supporting initiatives of public, private and voluntary sector in improving the agricultural economy of the district.

e)      Provide farm advisories using ICT and other media means on varied subjects of interest to farmers

In addition, KVK  produce quality technological products (seed, planting material, bio-agents, livestock) and make it available to farmers, organize frontline extension activities, identify and document selected farm innovations and converge with ongoing schemes and programmes within the mandate of KVK.

After the Modi Government, third party evaluation of KVKs was initiated.

1.        Monthly, quarterly and half yearly monitoring was enforced.

2.        The KVKs are being sanctioned to only those Institutions who have at least 5 years of experience of working in Agriculture.

3.        While sanctioning KVKs to NGOs, it has been made mandatory for the host Institution to mortgage about 20.0 ha of land in the favor of ICAR.

4.        The monitoring process has also been initiated at the district level in convergence with related Departments by constituting advisory committee and Action Plans.

Features of the Portal:

1.      The portal provides provisions for online monitoring of KVKs which will include reporting of major events on regular basis and submission of monthly reports online.

2.      The portal will also provide information on different services being provided by different KVKs.

3.      Weather and Market related informations can also be accessed by the farmers and others.

4.      The forthcoming programmes will also be available on the website which will benefit farmers and youth in joining different training programmes being organized by KVKs.

5.      Question and answer facility will also be available for the farmers.

6.      Agriculture related information of the districts will also be available on the portal.

7.      The farmers and the Agricultural Officers may register themselves and seek different informations related to KVKs..

SS/AK