Early Times Report
JAMMU, Feb 22: The government of Jammu and Kashmir, giving a huge push to sustainable agriculture in the Union Territory, has approved a five year project on "Innovative Extension Approaches for Revitalizing Agriculture in Jammu and Kashmir".
The project, worth Rs. 463 crore, is aimed at empowering farmers and educated youth through technology driven and inclusive agri-extension services. One of the critical outcomes of the project would be creation of 2,000 Kissan Khidmat Ghars (KKGs), which will serve as a One Stop Center for extending farmer oriented services.
"The extension system in Jammu and Kashmir faces many challenges, including serving a large clientele with structural complexity and functional diversity. Currently, there is a significant gap between extension workers and farmers, with a ratio of 1:1100 and contact intensity of one hour per farmer per year. The existing system is also plagued by defects such as lack of realistic base-level information, poor coordination and cohesiveness among the extension players and a low level of public confidence", said Atal Dulloo , Additional Chief Secretary, APD.
The project aims to address these issues by developing a dynamic agri-extension system using IoT-enabled real-time big data for farm-centric planning and resource allocation. This technology enabled system will form the basis for a proactive agriculture extension system with a cluster approach. This approach will use real-time regional analysis of climate and agro-ecology information to promote niche agriculture under given agro-climatic conditions", he added.
"Innovative Extension Approaches for Revitalizing Agriculture in Jammu and Kashmir" is one among the 29 projects, which were approved by the Jammu and Kashmir administration after being recommended by the UT Level Apex Committee for holistic development of agriculture and allied sectors in UT of J&K. The prestigious committee is being headed by Dr Mangala Rai, former DG ICAR and has other luminaries in the field of Agriculture, Planning, Statistics and Administration like Ashok Dalwai, CEO NRAA, Dr. P K Joshi, Secretary, NAAS, Dr. Prabhat Kumar, Horticulture Commissioner MOA and FW, Dr. H. S Gupta, Former Director, IARI, Atal Dulloo , Additional Chief Secretary, APD besides Vice Chancellors of twin Agriculture Universities of the UT.
The project envisages to promote sustainable and profitable agriculture with a significant increase in the share of agricultural GDP. To achieve this goal, the project will establish 2,000 Panchayat level KKGs, revitalizing the Block-level Extension Advisory Committee and promoting Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) as a hub of convergence of services at the district level. The project will also establish business orientation centers at SKUAST-Kashmir and Jammu and facilitate real time problem redressal through cyber extension including RS-GIS driven agro-advisories and ICT based virtual contacts and communication systems.
The Kissan Khidmat Ghar will be a One Stop Center for farmers to access a range of services related to agriculture and allied sectors. It will serve as a knowledge center with modern ICT tools including a kiosk, to provide direct access to various information such as input supply, technology, marketing, and more. The KKG will be a platform for public-private partnership to manage the value chain effectively and economically. Each KKG will have a technical facilitator to provide end-to-end services to farmers at nominal charges.
The project will also create a strong MIS system to maintain transparency and accountability in service delivery and information sharing with parent departments and administration. The KKG will function in close coordination with the Panchayat, fostering Public-Private-Panchayat partnership. The key functions of KKG will include execution of direct services in agriculture and allied sectors, input booking/delivery, market intelligence services, capacity building and skill development, facilitating custom hiring services and generating baseline information for policy planning and review of operational schemes at block and higher levels. |
