Impact of KVK Interventions on Socio-economic Status of Beneficiary Households in Dharwad District

The government and non-government agencies have started many projects and programmes with an aim to eradicate poverty, unemployment and enhance income among the rural poor. The turning point and giant leap in this direction came with the establishment of Farm Science Centre or Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVK) by ICAR in 1974. Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), the light house for rural people, is an innovative science based institution, which undertakes vocational training of farmers, farm women, and rural youths, conducts on-farm research for technology refinement and organizes frontline demonstration to promptly demonstrate the latest agriculture technologies to the farmers as well as the extension workers. The study was conducted in Dharwad district of Karnataka and KVK, Dharwad was purposively selected. Further, a sample of 40 respondents who were influenced by the three most important income and employment enhancing interventions namely household enterprise, vermicomposting and seed production were selected randomly. Thus, the total sample consisted of 120 respondents. It was clear that before the KVK intervention, majority of the respondents were under the low category of socio-economic status. These selected KVK interventions made farmers to generate adequate income, by acting as a subsidiary source of income. This led to the transformation of respondents from low socio-economic status to the medium category.

After the KVK interventions there was a significant change in socio-economic status of beneficiaries and shift from low and medium socio economic status to high socio-economic status. Farmers are benefitting and realizing sufficient income throughout the year with these interventions.