Untitled-1 5665 Constraints Encountered by the Beneficiaries of Krishi Vigyan Kendra in North Eastern Region of India Dipak Nath1, P. K. Jain2, R. K. Talukdar3 and B.S. Hansra4 ABSTRACT The study was conducted among 200 farmers of ten purposively selected Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) in North Eastern region of India. The respondents were interviewed using a questionnaire for identifying the constraints and their suggestions for future improvement of KVK activities. The study revealed that unavailability of labour, unavailability of good quality seed and other inputs, unavailability of information about pest and disease management at right time,(inability to purchase modern agricultural implements and lack of capital were the major constraints. The respondents suggested that timely availability of seed and other inputs, regular and continuous monitoring, linking farmers to financial institutuions for financial support, and more long term practical oriented training programme are important for strengthening KVK activities. Keywords : KVK, Constraints, Suggestions, North Eastern India. Journal of Extension Education Vol. 28 No. 2, 2016 1.Subject Matter Specialist (Agril. Extension), Krishi Vigyan Kendra, West Tripura and Ph.D., Scholar, School of Agriculture, IGNOU, New Delhi 2.Assistant Professor, School of Agriculture, IGNOU, New Delhi 3.Professor, Dept. of Extension Education, Faculty of Agriculture, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, Assam and 4. Professor Emeritus (Agriculture), Amity International Centre for PHT and CCM, Amity University, Noida, Uttar Pradesh Received : 25-12-2016; Accepted : 15-01-2017 Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) is an innovative science-based institution in India with a mandate of Technology assessment, refinement and demonstration of technology/products. KVKs undertake need based training/ vocational training of farm-men, farm women and rural youths; conducts on farm trials for technology refinement and frontline demonstrations to demonstrate the latest agricultural technologies to the farmers as well as the extension workers, work as resource and knowledge centre of agricultural technology for supporting initiatives of public, private and voluntary sector for improving the agricultural economy of the district besides sale of seeds and planting materials to the farmers. Imparting learning through “work experience” to those who are engaged in farming is the main purpose of the KVKs. The syllabus and programme of each KVK are tailored to the felt needs of the farmers, resources and potential for agricultural growth in a particular area. “Seeing is believing” and “Learning Research Note 5666 by doing” are the main methods of imparting skill training. Emphasis is also on employment generation to bring about equality of opportunities for socio economically deprived class of farmers and traditionally backward areas in the country including dry land areas (Venkatasubramanian et. al., 2009). North Eastern Region has 78 KVKs , out of which 18 nos. are under ICAR Institutes, 27 are under SAUs/ CAUs/ GUs, three are under Non – Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and 30 are under State Governmental Departments. KVKs have been implementing their mandated activities covering the farm men, farm women, and educated youth in a district. In view of this, for better implementation of mandated activities there is an urgent need to study the constraints encountered by the beneficiaries of KVKs and their suggestions for future improvement of KVK activities. Hence, the present study was conducted among the beneficiary farmers of KVKs in the North – East (NE) region. METHODOLOGY The objective of the study was to find out the constraints encountered by KVK beneficiaries and invite suggestions to address those constraints. For the study, ten KVKs were selected purposively from NE Region under different administrative units viz., SAU/ CAU, State govt. departments, ICAR and NGO. The purposively selected KVKs were Cachar (SAU), Tinsukia (SAU), Imphal East (CAU), Phek (ICAR), West Garo Hills (ICAR), South Tripura (ICAR), Tirap (State dept.), Mammit (State dept.), South Sikkim (State dept.) and West Tripura (NGO). A sample of 200 beneficiaries was selected purposively from the ten KVKs. The respondents were interviewed with a structured questionnaire for identifying the constraints and their suggestions for strengthening the KVK activities. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION The constraints encountered by the respondents are presented in Table 1 and their suggestions are highlighted in Table. 2. Data presented in Table 1 reveal that majority (95.50 %) of the respondents had reported “unavailability of labour” as the major constraint. Other major constraints, were “unavailability of good quality seed and other inputs” “unavailability of information about pest and disease management at right time”, “Inability to purchase modern agricultural implements”, “lack of capital” and “unavailability of timely credit facilities”. The possible reason behind the major constraint, “unavailability of labour” might be due to the implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) (Reddy et. al., 2014). The constraint, “unavailability of good quality seed & other inputs” might have been experienced due to the remoteness of the region (North East Region) and the large area of jurisdiction of KVK. These Journal of Extension Education 5667 Table 2 Suggestions for Future Improvement of KVK Programmes (N= 200) Sl. No. Suggestions Frequency Percentage Rank 1. Provision of assured irrigation 109 54.50 IV 2. Timely availability of seed and other inputs 178 89.00 I 3. KVK farm to be made a model farm 87 43.50 VII 4. More nos. of exposure visit, awareness programme etc. 81 40.50 VIII 5. More long term practical oriented training programme 101 50.50 V 6. KVK should be equipped with more manpower 70 35.00 IX 7. Linking farmers to financial institutions for financial support 144 72.00 III 8. Linking farmers to other organizations 97 48.50 VI 9. Regular and continuous monitoring 154 77.00 II Constraints Encountered by the Beneficiaries of Krishi Vigyan Kendra in North Eastern Region of India Table 1 Constraints Encountered by Beneficiaries of KVK (N= 200) Sl. No. Constraints Frequency Percentage Rank 1. No assured irrigation 113 56.50 VIII 2. Unavailability of timely credit facilities 132 66.00 VI 3. Unawareness of govt. subsidy programme 78 39.00 X 4. Unavailability of labour 191 95.50 I 5. Unavailability of good quality seed and other input 172 86.00 II 6. High cost of agricultural chemicals 109 54.50 IX 7. Inability to purchase modern agricultural implements 145 72.50 IV 8. High labour wages 125 62.50 VII 9. Lack of capital 142 71.00 V 10 Unavailability of information about pest and disease management at right time 159 79.50 III 5668 constraints could be addressed through collaboration with various government agencies and by motivating farmers to produce and use low cost inputs like biofertilizers and other organic manures thereby reducing the use of external inputs. Suggestions from the respondents to overcome their constraints are presented in Table 2. Major suggestions are, “timely availability of seed & other inputs” (89.00 %); “regular and continuous monitoring” (77.00 %), “linking farmers to financial institutions for financial support” (72.00 %) and “provision of assured irrigation” (54.50 %) Most of the suggestions could to be implemented by organizing more training programmes, exposure visits, method demonstrations, production of sufficient quantities of seed & planting material and convergence with other line departments. REFERENCES Reddy, N., D, Reddy, A, A., Nagaraj, N, & Bantilan, M, C, S (2014). Impact of Mahatma Gandhi rural employment gurantee Act (MGNREGA) on Rural labour markets, Hyderabad: ICRISAT CGIAR. Journal of Extension Education