VOLUME- 10 July to September, 2012 Issue - 3

Use Systems to mitigate prevailing drought condition.The Farmers' Meet was inaugurated by ShriA.K.Azad,Zonal Manager, Bank of India, Karnataka Zone,Bangalore. Interactive sessions on contingency cropplanning for delayed monsoon, alternate land usesystems in black soil and red soil, use of organics inagriculture, management of fodder for cattle andbackyard kitchen garden to overcome nutritionalproblems during drought were held between SubjectMatter Specialists of KVK and farmers. About 375farmers and farmwomen participated in the meet.Shri C.G. Koravanavar, Chairman, Agricultural ScienceFoundation, presided overthe meeting. Shri J. Shridar,Shri N.R. Kulkarni and other officers from Bank of Indiaparticipated in the meet.

ALTERNATE LAND USE SYSTEMS TO COMBAT DROUGHT: FARMERS' MEET

KVK in collaboration with Bank of India, Gadagorganized a Farmers Meet on 03.08.2012 at KVKpremises. The objective of the meeting was to discussabout Contingent Crop Planning and Alternate Land

~ SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY COMMlnEE MEETINGThe first Scientific Advisory Committee Meeting for the year 2012-13

was held on 22.08.2012. The meeting was chaired by Shri C.G. Koravanavar,Chairman of KVK's Host Institution. Dr. L.Krishna Naik, Director of Extension,University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, Dr. S.L. Madiwalar, AssociateDirector of Research, Regional Research Station, Bijapur,Shri R.S. RamaMurthy, Field Officer, Zonal Project Directorate, ICAR,Bangalore, Shri Sharavanan Kumar, District Development Manager,NABARD, Gadag, District Officers of State Development Departments, .aIO ..I

farmers and farmwomen representatives were present in the meeting. Dr. L.G. Hiregoudar, Programme Coordinator,welcomed the SAC members and presented the action taken report on the suggestions made during previous SACmeeting. All the Subject Matter Specialists and Programme Assistant of KVK presented the salient achievement oftheir Division for the year 2011-12 and the Action Plan for the year 2012-13. SAC members suggested to take upadvisory activities to mitigate the drought situation existing in Gadag district.

DRY LAND MANGO CULTIVATION - AN INSURANCE AGAINST DROUGHTPeriodical occurrence of agricultural droughts has

severely affected the livelihood of farmers adoptinggroundnut based cropping system under rainfed ecosystem in red soil packets of Gadag district. Long dryspells in kharif season and receeding soil moisture inrabi season are the characteristic features of thedroughts. About 30 per cent of the soil type in the districtis red sandy loam. Majority of the farmers take upspreading type groundnut cultivation during kharif

season. The district average productivity of spreadingtype groundnut is 6.75 quintals per hectare andground nut farming has become a non-viable enterpriseowing to moisture stress, non-availability and high costof labour, high cost of cultivation, high incidence ofleafminor and collar rot disease.

During 2001 KVK, Gadag initiated plannedinterventions in red soil area through promotion of dry

Cont... 2

NEWS LETTERExpansion of Area under Mangoland mango

cultivation to bringincome security to .".&

No.offitt'~f$

the farmers.Awareness campsin the villages wereorganized tos ens i t i z e the '-- ..J

farmers on adoption of alternate land use systems forcombating the vagaries of mansoon. During thesubsequent years, KVK trained 932 farmers on dry landmango cultivation. Exposure visits to successful dryland mango orchards offarmers established under KVKguidance were organized. Many farmers showed keeninterest to take up mango cultivation. KVK facilitatedlinkages with National Horticulture Mission, MahatmaGandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme

and Watershed Develop-ment Department forestablishment of mangoorchards. Various farmadvisory services viz.,orchard layout, plantingmethod, rain water

harvesting & conservation and plant protection wererendered by KVK. Production and supply of Alphonsografts was one of the important intervention of KVK.During last 10 years, KVK supplied 39385 mangoseedlings to farmers.

Slowly KVK's efforts paved the way forestablishment of mango orchards by the farmers.During the period from 2003 to 2011, more than 386hectares of area is occupied by mango involving about240 farmers.

• Art:ol (ha)

No. of farmen

CAPACITY BUILDING OF COMMAND AREA FARMERSKVK trained 217 farmers belonging to

Malaprabha Command Area of Naragund and Ronblocks. Major focus of training was on Soil, Water andCrop Management in Command Area. The trainingswere organized in collaboration with Command AreaDevelopmentAuthority, Belgaum.

FIELD EXPERIENCE TRAINING OF ARS SCIENTISTSKVK has hosted Field Experience Training for 6

ARS Scientist Probationers from 23.08.2012 to10.09.2012. KVK facilitated the Scientist Probationers tostudy agro-eco system of Shirunja village in Gadag blockthrough application of various participatory tools. TheFETteam presented the findings of their study before thevillagers and KVKexperts.

Farmers used to get average net income ofRs. 20,000 per hectare fromgroundnut cultivation underrainfed situation. But now,the net income is almostdoubled from 8 years oldmango orchard. Further,intercrops are also taken upduring the initial 8-10 years in mango orchards whichadds substantial income to the farmers. Mangocultivation has brought much needed income securityand stability to the farmers even during drought years.

During the year 2011, out of 386 hectares, about200 hectares belonging to 116 mango growers was inthe bearing age of 5-8 years. It is the common practiceby the mango grower to lease mango orchards aftermango starts flowering during the months of Novemberand December. Throughleasing, mango growingfarmers have realized a netincome of Rs. 62.85 lakhsat an average income ofRs.32000 per hectare. Thisclearly indicates that.in spite of the drought situation during 2011-12, farmerswere able to get stable income from mango crop.

Mango being a perennial crop, productivityincreases as the age of the tree increases. It is projectedthat by 2018-19, all the 386 hectares of mango will be ineconomic bearing stage and mango grower shall get anaverage income of Rs. 115000 per hectare. Owing toprofitability and stability of income from mangocultivation and technical support of KVK, there has beena speedy expansion of mango area in the district.

CAPACITY BUILDING TRAINING OFEXTENSION FUNCTIONARIES

Twenty four Extension Personnel of StateDepartment of Agriculture were trained for 3 days onContingent Crop Planning under delayed monsooncondition. Their visit was arranged to KVK's InstructionalFarm to expose the participants about the variousdrought proofing models established in KVK farm.

One day duration training for Field Extensionfunctionaries of Shri Kshetra Dharmasthala RuralDevelopment Project was arranged on 11.08.2012 onvarious topics related to Drought Mitigation Strategiesand Integrated Farming System. About 36 functionariesparticipated.

K. H. PATIL KRISHI VIGYAN KENDRA

DROUGHT MITIGATION AOIVITIES OF KVKIn view of the drought situation prevailing in Gadag district, KVK implemented the following drought

mitigation programmes for the farmers

Name of the Programme No. ofBatches

6Trainingon contingent crop planningResource conservation technologies in Maize, Bt.Cotton and Groundnut

2 67

Income Generation Programmes for SHGs duringoffseason

63 2568

Livestock farming & fodder management duringdrought situation

36 1072

Farmer'sMeetson drought mitigation technologies 2 501Methoddemonstration on compartment bunding 5 314Contingentcrop plan preparation 12 plansNews articles on drought mitigation measures inKrishiVigyan Patrike

5 articles 5000copies circulated

RadioTalksoffarmers on combating drought 3 3TV programmes of PC & SMSs of KVK experts ondrought proofing measures

5 programmes

VISIT OF DIGNITARIESDr. E. Vadivel, Project

Officer, Precision Farmingand E-Iearning Centre,Tamil Nadu AgriculturalUniversity, Coimbatore,Dr. S. Prabhukumar, Zo ~I <----'----'-Project Director, ICAR, Bangalore visited KVK on10.09.2012. Dr. E. Vadivel shared the experiencesof Information Communication Technology initiativestaken by TNAU, Coimbatore. He presented salientfeatures of Expert System developed in Paddy,Coconut, Sugarcane, Ragi and Banana crops. Herequested KVK staff to help in translation of expertsystem in Kannada language. Dr. N. Sriram,Co-Principal Investigator, Expert System, waspresent during the Interaction Meeting.

Assessment ofchulhas for drudgeryreduction and fuel efficiencywas carried out in Shirunjavillage of Gadag taluk. TheSampada Chulha, EnvirofitChulha, Selco Solar Chulha, Greenway Chulha and thetraditional chulha were assessed. It was found that thefuel and the time required for cooking was less inEnviofit Chulha compared to other chulha. The smokeproduction during cooking is also less in Envirofitchulha compared to other types of chulhas.Farmwomen expressed that the body of the chulha,performance and the over all features of the Envirofitchulha are good. Forty two farmwomen participated inthe assessment and more than 15 farmwomen showedtheir willingness to purchase the chulha.

KVK PROGRAMMES IN ELEORONIC MEDIAChandan channel of Doordarshan has broadcasted various programmes of KVK during September 2012

as detailed below

SI. No. Programme Details KVK expert involved Broadcast date and time

Alternate Land use system in black soils

2 Alternate Land use system in red soils

03.09.2012, 1.30 pmShri N.H. Bhandi, SMS (Soil Science)

Shri K.T. Pati!, SMS (Horticulture) 05.09.2012, 1.30 pm

3 Use of organic for sustainable production 10.09.2012, 1.30 pmShri S.K. Mudlapur, SMS (Plant Protection)

Shri V.D. Vaikunthe, SMS (Agronomy)

Dr. L.G. Hiregoudar, Programme Coordinator

12.09.2012, 1.30 pm

19.09.2012, 1.30 pm

4 Contingent Crop Planning for delayed monsoon

5 Drought Proofing technologies promoted by KVK

NEWS LETTERHRD OF KVK STAFF

Mr. S.H. Adapur, SMS (Agri Extension) attended a training workshop on "Institutional Innovations inAgricultural Extension for Inclusive Growth" organized by National Academy of Agricultural Research Management,Hyderabad from 1-6August, 2012

Mr. V.D. Vaikunthe, SMS (Agronomy) participated in the training programme on "Organic Farming and OrganicCertification" organized by Regional Centre of Organic Farming, Bangalore from 10-14 September, 2012

MEETINGS AnENDED PARTICIPATION IN FARM FAIR(1) Programme Coordinator and all the SubjectMatter Specialists of KVK participated in KVK-ATMAmeeting held at KVK premises on 10.09.2012(2) Dr. L.G. Hiregoudar, Programme Coordinatorattended the meeting on 04.09.2012 convened byZonal Project Directorate at University of HorticulturalSciences, Bagalkot to discuss about the Translation ofExpert Systems on crops into Kannada languagedeveloped by E-Iearning Centre, Tamil NaduAgricultural University, Coimbatore.

DEMONSTRATION OF FARM MACHINEFOR SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION

One day interactivemeeting of farmers was heldon 18.09.2012 to discussabout the utility of farmmachines for Soil and waterConservation activities. The ~.lIL..I""""'......;...llI!"';

collaborated programme with JCB India Corporationhelped the farmers to understand the utility of 2 dxmachines for Soil and Water conservation works suchas trenching, bunding, construction of farm ponds etc.The technical officers of JCB India Corporationexplained the various aspects of machinery utilizationalong with the demonstration.

KVK showcased itsactivities through exhibitionin the Farm Fair (KrishiMela) organized byUniversity of AgriculturalSciences, Dharwad from •.....•....--22-25 September, 2012. Drought mitigation effortsof KVK related to soil and water technology, rainwater harvesting, alternate land use systems,organic farming, value addition activities weredisplayed in the exhibition. Publications of KVKwere made available to farmers during the occasion.

KVK PUBLICATIONSKVK has brought out the following publicationsduring 2011-12

.:. Promotion of Dry land Mango cultivation forincome security: A Case Study

.:. Promotion of high yielding variety of Onion :A Case study by KVK, Gadag

.:. Empowerment of Women SHGs throught skillupgradation training in dairy enterprise -An impact analysis

.:. Hand book of Agricultural Technologies forcommand area farmers.

FIELD DAY ON CHRYSANTHEMUMA field day on Chrysanthemum crop was conducted in Shirunja village of

Gadag block with an objective of popularizing Integrated Nutrient ManagementTechnology in Chrysanthemum. Foliar spray of water soluble NPK fertilizerand micronutrient mixture at the rate of 750 ml per hectare during bud initiationstage and second spray after 21 days was demonstrated under FLDprogramme in 4 hectares area involving 10 farmers. Farmers opined that thespray of water soluble fertilizers and micro nutrients has enhanced the quality and quantity of flowers.Mr. Girish Hosur, Senior Assistant Director of Horticulture, Department of Horticulture, Gadag participated asthe Chief guest. He briefed the farmers about the schemes of National Horticultural Mission andComprehensive Horticultural Development Programmes for promotion of Flower Crops. About 60Chrysanthemum growers participated in the event.

{' ,Edited & Published by : Dr. ~.G. Hiregoudar, Programme Co.o;dinator;· K.H. Patil Krishi Vigyan Kendr~: Hulkoti ',582 205, Dist ~Ga'dag, Karnataka Stat~ ..Ph: (08372) 289606 Fax: (08372) 289474 Ernail : khpatil_ kvk_ hulkoti@yahoo.com & kvkhulkoti@gmail.com Website: http://www.khpkvk.org "

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