KVKs Remodeling Farmers into Agri-preneurs

As they full 50 years of operations, the Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), the frontline know-how demonstration and extension arm of the Indian Council for Agricultural Analysis (ICAR), have reworked themselves incubating agri start-ups unleashing the entrepreneurship spirit among the many farmers.

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The primary KVK was arrange on March 21, 1974 at Puducherry beneath the executive management of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural College, Coimbatore, to offer vocational schooling within the agriculture and allied areas for the agricultural youths. The variety of KVKs have grown over the previous 5 many years and at current there are 731 KVKs arrange throughout the nation.

Of those 731 KVKs, 507 are beneath the State Agricultural Universities and Central Agricultural Universities, 66 beneath the ICAR Institutes, 103 beneath the non-governmental organisttions, 38 beneath varied state governments and the remaining 17 beneath the opposite academic establishments.

Humble beginnings

From a humble starting as a vocational coaching centre, the KVKs have developed themselves as enterprise incubators serving to farmers to turn into agri-preneurs by encouraging native worth addition in sync with the altering dynamics within the farm sector.

“KVKs, that are serving as information and useful resource centres, are additionally serving to farmers to turn into entrepreneurs. Farmers are being skilled in varied facets worth addition resembling grading, processing and packaging amongst others apart from offering them with entry to finance,” stated US Gautam, Deputy Director-Basic, Agriculture Extension at ICAR.

“Our intention is to have one KVK in each district of the nation and we’ve got despatched a proposal to the Authorities to arrange 102 extra KVKs,” Gautam stated.

The transformation of KVKs from the know-how demonstration, crop administration and production-oriented method to encouraging farmer to go for worth addition and empowering them with entrepreneurial abilities began since 2010 with the introduction of the Nationwide Agriculture Innovation Undertaking, stated V Venkatasubramanian, Director, ICAR-Agricultural Know-how Utility Analysis Institute (ATARI) Zone 11, Bengaluru.

Sturdy grassroot ranges mechanism

The way in which ahead is branding and serving to farmers and agri-preneurs attain shoppers straight with their merchandise, he provides.

“We have now received a powerful mechanism on the grass root ranges to establish farmers with potential entrepreneurial abilities and a structured process to coach them to be entrepreneurs imparting them with varied required enterprise abilities,” he stated. The talent constructing and product growth is location particular, Venkatasubramanian stated.

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1000’s of value-added merchandise have come out from the ICAR’s KVK eco-system from varied crops – fruit, flowers and discipline crops, starting from mushrooms to orchids, jackfruits, millets, coconut, espresso, sea-food based mostly merchandise, vermi compost and bio-formulations amongst others, Venkatasubramanian stated.