Lok Sabha Question No. 2509 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-08-03
Subject: Krishi Vigyan Kendras
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Chhedi Paswan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH & EDUCATION

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2509

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 3 rd  AUGUST, 2021

## KRISHI VIGYAN KENDRAS

2509. SHRI CHHEDI PASWAN:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ षि और ककसान कल्याण मंत्री be pleased to state:

- (a) the number and location of Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) in the country, Statewise including backward areas;
- (b) whether the Union Government has formulated any scheme to establish additional KVKs for the development of agriculture in Bihar;
- (c) whether the Union Government has reviewed the working of KVKs and if so, the outcome thereof;
- (d) the  extent  to  which  these  KVKs  have  proved  to  be  successful  for  farmers  in increasing production; and
- (e) if so, the latest status of the establishment of KVKs, State-wise?

## ANSWER

THE MINISTER OF AGRICUTLRURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ षि और ककसान कल्याण मंत्री ( SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR )

- (a) At present, there are 725 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) in the country. State wise number of KVKs including those in backward areas are given in Annexure-I .

(b) As approved, additional KVKs have been established in Muzaffarpur, Samastipur, Madhubani, East Champaran, West Champaran and Gaya districts of Bihar.

(c) A Third Party evaluation of Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) has been carried out by National  Institute  of  Labour  Economics  Research  and  Development  (NILERD),  an autonomous institute under NITI Aayog, in 2015. The major observations and findings of this evaluation are as follows:-

- It was  observed  that  KVKs  are  playing  proactive  role  in transferring  new technology at field level with beneficial impacts.

O.I.H.

- The  KVKs have  an  edge  in  technology  transfer  over  other  service  providers  by virtue of having better technical expertise and demonstration abilities.
- About 40 percent farmers reported that they implemented the technology immediately after  its  dissemination  by  KVK  and  that  25  percent  did  so  from  the next agricultural season.
- On  an  average  a  KVK  covers  43  villages  and  4300  farmers  per  year.  80%  of villages covered are 10 km away from KVK.
- 96% farmers' requests were attended by KVKs.
- 42% technologies adopted by farmers resulted in higher productivity, 33% resulted in high harvest income and 20% resulted in drudgery reduction.
- About 25% of persons trained started self-employment ventures.
- With the intervention by KVKs, about 80 percent of the farmers have modified their agricultural patterns which were related to diversification of crops and changes in cropping  pattern,  seed  planting  technique,  use  of  fertilizers  and  pesticides, changes in machinery used and in water use pattern.

Further,  NILERD  conducted  categorization  study  of  the  KVKs  on  the  basis  of mandated  activities,  impact  of  the  activities, allied  activities,  accolades  and  other parameters in 2018.

The Study categorized the KVKs as A, B, C and D.  Best performing KVKs (43%) were rated as 'A' followed by 48% KVKs as 'B' and 9% as 'C' & 'D'.

Besides, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) evaluated the KVKs in 2019. Major findings of the Study are as follows:

- KVKs' efforts generated an additional net farm income of Rs. 3568 per hectare.
- Cost Benefit ratio is 1:7.8. Thus, the rate of return on expenditure on KVK is very high.
- One  farmer  trained  by  a  KVK  disseminates  technology/knowledge  to  30  fellow farmers.

Recently in 2020,  Indian Society of Agribusiness Professionals, New Delhi also conducted  study  on  impact  evaluation  of  KVKs.  Major  findings  of  the  study  are  as follows:

- On an average, KVK outreach found to be around 90-100 villages. With its strong ICT interventions, the outreach to villages increases to even 200 villages per KVK.
- There  is  increase  in  outreach  programs  by  KVKs  from  2012-13  to  2019-20  in number  of  on  farm  trials  by  51%,  frontlines  demonstrations  by  61%,  farmers trained by 16% and extension personnel trained by 35%.
- There is increase in proportion of farm women in trainings from 30% in 2012-13 to 37% in 2019-20.
- There  is  142%  increase  in  the  number  of  short  message  sent  from  2012-13  to 2019-20. Similarly, there is increase in the number of the farmers covered from the year 2012-13 to 2019-20 by 135% with the advent of the digital technologies such as Whats App group, Facebook group which has increased the outreach by 4 times.

- There is 32% increase in seed production and 117% increase in planting material production by KVKs during the said period.

(d) The KVKs conduct Frontline  Demonstrations  (FLDs)  to  establish  the  production potential of improved  agricultural technologies on  the farmers' fields.  The  FLDs conducted on different pulse crops showed increase in production ranging from 29.51 % in chickpea to 38.64 % in green gram during 2020-21. Likewise, increase in production ranged from 25.89 % in mustard to 40.35 % in groundnut in oilseed crops. The average increase in production was 15.69 % in paddy, 12 % in wheat, 25.95 % in maize, 27.30 % in finger millet, 23.86 % in pearl millet, 47.10% in vegetables, 19.58% in fruits, 37.41% in flowers, 38.30% in spices/condiments, 17.46% in plantation crops, 32.74% in sugarcane, 8.38% in cotton, 29.52 % in berseem and 31.12 % in fodder maize.

- (e) State wise number of KVKs is given in Annexure-I.

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## Annexure-I [Part (a) & (e) of Lok Sabha USQ No.2509 dated 03/08/2021]

## State wise number of KVKs

| Sl. No   | States/ UTs               |   Number of KVKs |
|----------|---------------------------|------------------|
| 1.       | Andaman & Nicobar Islands |                3 |
| 2.       | Andhra Pradesh            |               24 |
| 3.       | Arunachal Pradesh         |               17 |
| 4.       | Assam                     |               26 |
| 5.       | Bihar                     |               44 |
| 6.       | Chhattisgarh              |               28 |
| 7.       | Delhi                     |                1 |
| 8.       | Goa                       |                2 |
| 9.       | Gujarat                   |               30 |
| 10.      | Haryana                   |               18 |
| 11.      | Himachal Pradesh          |               13 |
| 12.      | Jammu & Kashmir           |               18 |
| 13.      | Jharkhand                 |               24 |
| 14.      | Karnataka                 |               33 |
| 15.      | Kerala                    |               14 |
| 16.      | Ladakh                    |                4 |
| 17.      | Lakshadweep               |                1 |
| 18.      | Madhya Pradesh            |               54 |
| 19.      | Maharashtra               |               50 |
| 20.      | Manipur                   |                9 |
| 21.      | Meghalaya                 |                7 |
| 22.      | Mizoram                   |                8 |
| 23.      | Nagaland                  |               11 |
| 24.      | Odisha                    |               33 |
| 25.      | Puducherry                |                3 |
| 26.      | Punjab                    |               22 |
| 27.      | Rajasthan                 |               44 |
| 28.      | Sikkim                    |                4 |
| 29.      | Tamil Nadu                |               32 |
| 30.      | Telangana                 |               16 |
| 31.      | Tripura                   |                8 |
| 32.      | Uttar Pradesh             |               88 |
| 33.      | Uttarakhand               |               13 |
| 34.      | West Bengal               |               23 |
|          | Total                     |              725 |

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