RPCAU Extension Services

Mandates of Directorate

• Promotion of agricultural development through professional extension services.
• Strengthening and enhancing of professionalism in extension.
• Supervision and monitoring of extension programmes.
• Providing guidelines and maintaining coordination among various centres including KVKs.
• Organizing training for extension functionaries of State Govt. and Central Govt. Officials to upgrade their knowledge base.

Training for field functionaries, farmers, unemployed youths, housewives and others are organized at two levels, at the University level and at KVK. The University level trainings are organized at it’s headquarter and other campuses of the University mainly to the field functionaries and subject matter specialists for updating the scientific knowledge and to improve the technical skill of the officers of different state line departments and NGOs. Training programmes for farmers/farmwomen and unemployed rural youth are mainly organized at all KrishiVigyanKendras on a routine basis. Primarily, trainings are intended to address problems of under-employment, unemployment and malnutrition in rural areas through diversification of agriculture andpromotion of horticulture, fisheries, dairy, livestock, poultry, beekeeping, sericulture, etc.

Support to agricultural extension is carried out mainly through organization of State/district level Kisan Melas; publication of Kisan Diary; publication of Book/Booklets/Folders/Leaflets/Pamphlets/Radio/T.V. talks etc.

 PUBLICATION

• In many areas, low agricultural productivity is an outcome of a lack of awareness. The university publications are to make the growers well acquainted with the latest production technologies.
• The University publishes every year Adhunik Kisan Diary. This diary contains information related to agro-climatic conditions prevailing in the state including the soil situation. The packages of practices related to various crops, the cultivation of which are possible in these agro-climatic conditions are also included in the dairy.
• University also publishes a monthly magazine in Hindi which is named Adhunik Kisan Patrica. It includes the relevant articles pertaining to the crop season. In addition to this, a number of bulletins and folders on package of practices of crops, livestock production, fish culture, bee keeping, mushroom cultivation, poultry etc are also published on regular basis.
• The RPCAU annual report is brought out to provide the latest information on activities of the colleges, research centers and KVKs.

The establishment of Agricultural Technology Information Center (ATIC) has provided a mechanism beyond individual units of research institution in contributing towards the dissemination of information. This has served as a single window system with an objective to help the farmers and other stakeholders both to provide solutions to their problems and make available all technological information along with technology products for their transfer and use.

Through this center, the Directorate is serving farming community by providing the most important input i.e. knowledge input along with other inputs such as seeds of different high yielding varieties of various crops, graft & gooties of horticultural crops, fertilizers and publications of the University.

In an information age, the role of appropriate information package and its dissemination assumes a portal role. It is not only important to generate information but also to see that the required information are delivered to the end users at the earliest and that too without any dissemination loss. Krishi Vigyan Kendra is a front line extension system and a lighthouse for the farming community in remote areas of the district fulfilling this need. It works upon the principles of learning by doing and seeing is believing.

The list of KVKs operating in different districts, under the jurisdiction of Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, with their contact details is as below:

Mandate of KVKs

The mandate of KVK is Assessment & Refinement of new technologies and Demonstration of proven technologies for Application and Capacity Building.

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 sector in improving the agricultural economy of the district.
• Provide farm advisories using ICT and other media means on varied subjects of interest to farmers.
• Production of quality seed and planting material for the district.