Krishi Vigyan Kendras

History of KVKs

The Education Commission (1964-66) recommended that a vigorous effort be made to establish specialized institutions to provide vocational education in agriculture and allied fields at the pre and post matriculate levels to cater the training needs of a large number of boys and girls coming from rural areas. The Commission, further, suggested that such institutions be named as ‘Agricultural Polytechnics’. The recommendation of the Commission was thoroughly discussed: during 1966-72 by the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Agriculture, Planning Commission, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and other allied institutions. Finally, the ICAR mooted the idea of establishing Krishi Vigyan Kendras (Agricultural Science Centres) as innovative institutions for imparting vocational training to the practicing farmers, school dropouts and field level extension functionaries.The ICAR Standing Committee on Agricultural Education, in its meeting held in August, 1973, observed that since the establishment of Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) was of national importance which would help in accelerating the agricultural production as also in improving the socio-economic conditions of the farming community, the assistance of all related institutions should be taken in implementing this scheme. The ICAR, therefore, constituted a committee in 1973 headed by Dr. Mohan Singh Mehta of Seva Mandir, Udaipur (Rajasthan), for working out a detailed plan for implementing this scheme. The Committee submitted its report in 1974.

The first KVK, on a pilot basis, was established in 1974 at Puducherry (Pondicherry) under the administrative control of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore. At present there are 731 KVKs, out of which 509 are under Agricultural Universities (AU), 66 under ICAR Institutes, 101 under NGOs, 38 under State Governments, 3 under Central Universities, 2 under Public Sector Undertakings, 7 under Deemed to be Universities and 5 under Other Educational Institutions.

Mandate of KVK

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.

• On-farm testing to assess the location specificity of agricultural technologies under various farming systems.
• Frontline demonstrations to establish production potential of technologies on the farmers’ fields
• Capacity development of farmers and extension personnel to update their knowledge and skills on modern agricultural technologies
• To work as Knowledge and Resource Centre of agricultural technologies for supporting initiatives of public, private and voluntary sectors in improving the agricultural economy of the district.
• Provide farm advisories using ICT and other media means on varied subjects of interest to farmers.

In addition, KVK would 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.

Agricultural Technology Application Research Institutes

At zonal level, Agricultural Technology Application Research Institutes (ATARIs) play the role of coordination and monitoring with headquarters at Ludhiana, Jodhpur, Kanpur, Patna, Kolkata, Guwahati, Barapani, Pune, Jabalpur, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.

List of Krishi Vigyan Kendras

Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs)- State-wise

Krishi Vigyan Kendra Portal

The Government has launched Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) Portal which will help in monitoring the functioning of KVKs at the National level and in providing timely information and advisory to the farmers.

Aim

The aim of the portal is to transfer the technologies developed by the agricultural scientists to the farmers in a fast and effective manner using web and mobile technology as well as to monitor the activities of Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs).

Objectives

The objectives of the portal is

• To create a platform to monitor the various activities as well as resource utilization by various KVKs;
• To create a database of the various programmes organized by the KVKs along with their detailed information and learning resources;
• To help the farmers in resolving their queries using web and mobile technologies;
• To provide information about various facilities and activities performed by the KVKs and to provide linkage to other important information such as weather and market information.

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

To access the KVK portal, click here.

Locate your nearest Krishi Vignan Kendra

Following link will provide the user with easy access to the contact details of the Krishi Vignan Kendras across India. User can search in no time the nearest KVK in his/her district.

Locate your nearest KVK

Source: Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)

Related resources

• KVK Telephone Directory