Impact of Krishi Vigyan Kendra on crop productivity of tribal farmers in Madhya Pradesh

The KVKs thus are the down-to-earth institutions committed to vocational training, transfer of latest technologies, on farm research and thus, serving as the light house for overall rural development in the district. The activities of the KVK include technology assessment, refinement and transfer, aiming to bridge the gap between the technology developed at the research institutions and its adoption at the field level by the farmers through demonstration of technology/products etc. and training of farmers, rural youths and extension personnel. The present study was undertaken to assess the crop productivity of beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of KVKs working in the tribal district of Madhya Pradesh. The study was conducted with 300 tribal farmers randomly selected in 12 villages of Mandla, Dindori and Shahdol district. Results revealed that, tribal farmers were of comparatively middle age group, education up to high school, agriculture + other as their occupation, medium annual income, medium landholdings, medium experience, high attitude towards technological demonstration, high knowledge about KVK activities, high perception towards scientific agriculture, medium market orientation, high scientific orientation, high aspiration level, medium use of information sources and high training exposure. The analysis of data showed that KVK activities have made significant impact in increasing the crop productivity of tribal farmers.