Jagjivan Ram Innovative Farmer Award

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India has instituted Jagjivan Ram Innovative Farmer Award to recognize the outstanding contributions of innovative farmers for initiatives in development adoption, modification and dissemination of improved technology and practices for increased income with sustainability.

Number of Awards and Frequency

The following national and zonal awards are announced:

1. National: One annual national award of Rs 1.00 lakh each in any of the areas of agriculture and allied sciences + equal amount of travel grant across the country to promote his achievement are to be given to farmers at national level.
2. Zonal: Eleven annual awards of Rs 0.50 lakh each + equal amount of travel grant to promote his/ her achievement and motivate farmers in his/ her perspective zone.
   All the KVKs in the country are divided zone wise. There are eight zones in the country and each zone is headed by Zonal Project Director. The geographical area of each zone is as follows.
List of ATARIs along with States


S.No	ATARIs/Zone	Headquarters	State/UT
1	ATARI,  Zone-I	Ludhiana	Punjab, Utta rakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir.
2	ATARI, Zone-II	Jodhpur	Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi
3	ATARI, Zone-III	Kanpur	Uttar Pradesh
4	ATARI, Zone-IV	Patna	Bihar, Jharkhand
5	ATARI, Zone-V	Kolkata	West Bengal, Odisha, Andaman & Nicobar
6	ATARI, Zone-VI	Guwahati	Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim
7	ATARI, Zone-VII	Barapani	Tripura, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya
8	ATARI, Zone-VIII	Pune	Maharashtra, Gujarat, Daman and Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Goa
9	ATARI, Zone-IX	Jabalpur	Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh
10	ATARI, Zone-X	Hyderabad	Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry
11	ATARI, Zone-XI	Banglore	Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep

Area of Award

The award will be for the creative approach – Innovative farming, technological acceptance, contribution in enhanced productivity, farming attributes shown by a farmer. This may involve activities like farmers innovation in resource conservation and enhancement, germplasm collection and conservation of plant, animals and fish species or Management Practices, Soil and Water Management/Conservation, Development of Appropriate Tools and Equipment, Innovations in Dry Farming Technique/Practices, New Improved Food and Feed Products and Control of Diseases among Plant/Animal s, processing of agricultural produce & marketing.

Administration of the Award

A five-member Judging Committee will be appointed by the DG, ICAR including one representative farmer to make suitable recommendations. In case no suitable application are received, the award shall not be given. The post award programme/grant will be administered by Division of Agricultural Extension.

Eligibility Criteria

Any farmer who has been involved himself/herself for at least 10 years in agriculture and livestock operations and other allied activities.

Criteria of Selection

The farmer’s innovation/creativity/approaches should result:

• New knowledge/package of practices/management strategies / additional information to the existing one
• Additional income to the individual farmer/farming community
• Saving of resources/inputs
• Breaking technology transfer barriers
• Prevention of outbreak of diseases and pests
• Bringing out radical changes in management packages in resulting in productivity enhancement from land or animals and processing, value addition, and marketing.

Procedure for Nomination

• National: Agricultural Production Commissioners /Secretaries/Directors of Agril./Hort./A.H./Fisheries/Sericulture, Vice-Chancellors of agricultural universities/ Directors of ICAR Institutes will identify and nominate the farmers in their area of jurisdiction and forward the authentic information to the Council.
• Zonal : Agricultural Production Commissioners /Secretaries/Directors of Agril./Hort./A.H./Fisheries/Sericulture, Vice-Chancellors of agricultural universities/ Directors of ICAR Institutes and Zonal directors of KVKs/NGOs, will identify and nominate the farmers in their area of jurisdiction and forward the authentic information to the Council.
• A farmer can be nominated either for zonal or for national award. The Judging Committee will scrutinize the claims and decide the award on merit.

Presentation of the Award

the award in the form of a citation and award money of Rs 100,000 for National or Rs 50,000 for Zonal shall be presented on the ICAR foundation day (16th July). The applications are called for during December - January every year.

For the details and the application format, click here.

Source : ICAR