Excelsior Correspondent
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.
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.
Meanwhile, the project will also reorient capacity building programs and promote secondary agriculture with post-harvest and non-farm activities as the primary focus for harnessing better returns. This will include trainings in agri-business, marketing, secondary agriculture and non-farm activities. It will constitute an “Agri-Extension Club” promoting regular online Expert Extension Lecture Series (EELS) and skilling farmers and youth in mission mode for profitable agriculture, entrepreneurship development, agri-business start-ups, employment generation and livelihood security.
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