1. Introduction:
Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Sirohi is established in the year 1989 by the ICAR, New Delhi is an extension centre responsible for transfer of front line technologies among the farming community of district with the mandate “Technology Assessment and Demonstration for its Application and Capacity Development”. With the establishment of AU, Jodhpur in 2013, it was transferred from MPUAT, Udaipur to AU, Jodhpur along with all movable and immovable properties.
Sirohi district is situated at the Southern–west part of Rajasthan between parallel of 240 20’ and 250 17’ North Latitude and 720 16’and 730 10’ East longitude. District has an area of 5139 sq. kms. It covers about 1.52 per cent of the total area of Rajasthan State. Sirohi District possessed 487 villages. Sirohi district has abundant numbers of hills which are part of mountains of the Aravallis.
Sirohi district falls in two agro-climatic zone i. e. Zone IIb (Transitional Plains of Luni basin) covers Sirohi, Sheoganj and Reodar blocks having irrigated, normal soil, rain fed, medium to deep soil and Zone IVa (Semi Humid Southern plain Zone) covers Pindwara and Aburoad blocks of Sirohi district having medium textured shallow to moderate deep soil. Sirohi district has 1,62,788 ha net sown area with 2,25,824 ha gross cropped area. Total irrigated area of district is 1,03,001 ha and main source of irrigation is open wells and bore wells. District possess 1,55,461 ha area under forests which covers 29.44 per cent of total area of the district. District has three sub divisions, five tehsils as well as panchayat samities. District has population of 10.36 lac of which male and female are 5.43 lac and 5.02 lac respectively.  It has 1.51 per cent population share of the State. Rural population in Sirohi district is 79.86 per cent. The schedule caste population in the district is 19.47 per cent while schedule tribe comprises 28.22 per cent of the district population.
Sirohi district is blessed with moderate climatic condition (semi-arid to semi-humid). Temperature ranges between 43.5 0C to 0 0C with average rain fall of 741 mm. Soil of the district is deficient in N, Zn, sulphur, iron and.  District has Animal husbandry- Horticulture based farming system. Sirohi district possesses great crop diversification as crops are concerned. Major crops sown in the district in Kharif season are castor, pearlmillet, sesame, cluster bean, green gram and maize while in Rabi season fennel, mustard, wheat, cumin and chickpea are grown. Besides agricultural crops, horticultural crops like papaya and lemon are cultivating by the farmers. Apart from this, orchards of custard apple, mango, vegetable cultivation especially tomato, okra, chili and creeper vegetable (more than 4293 ha area) are also grown.

KVK Sirohi building	Custard apple orchard at KVK

Sirohi district is also known for its Sirohi breed of goat. Sirohi goat is dual purpose compact, medium to large sized goat breed reared for meat and milk production purpose. It has brick red colour with light to dark brown patches on the skin. District has 3,07,708 goats and 2,05,736 sheeps. District has 1,86,218 buffaloes, 191,484 indigenous cattle, 3080 HF cattle. In tribal dominant area, back yard poultry is traditionally reared with approximate no. of 5,236 poultry birds.
KVK, Sirohi is located 8 km away from Sirohi on four lane National Highway No. 62 towards Sumerpur. It has 34.5 ha land, out of which 28.8 ha land was under cultivation. At the tail end of farm, there is a large rain water harvesting structure used for irrigating crops when it is filled with rain water. It has Sirohi Goat Unit, Pratapdhan Poultry Unit, Napier Grass Unit, Nutri-Garden Unit, Vermi-composting and Azolla Unit, NADEP Composting Unit, Custard Apple Orchard, Mother Orchard of kagji & barahmashi Lemon, well developed Nursery supported by six staff residential quarters.
At present, Sr. Sci. and Head along with five SMS (Home Science, Plant protection Agronomy, Extension Education, and Horticulture), Farm Manager, two PA (Lab Technician and Computer Operator), Stenographer, one Driver and two Support Staff are working at KVK, Sirohi.
Table 1: Area and Productivity of major crops in Sirohi District in 2015-16 & 2019-20*

2. Training Achievements:
On Campus Trainings: Four thousand six hundred ninety-five farmers, farm women and youth were trained and motivated by 142 on campus trainings during this period (Table 2). Farmers, Farm Women and Youth were well-versed on various thematic areas of Integrated Farming System, Integrated Pest Management, Nursery Management, Poultry, Goat farming, Value Addition in Farm Product and Women empowerment. Follow up of this work revealed that farmers, Farm women and youth adopted various income generating activities and increased their income by 20-25 per cent by setting various farm modules at their farms.

On campus training on safe storage of grains, Date- 01/03/2019, Venue- KVK Sirohi	On campus training on IPM in field crops, Date- 15/09/2018, Venue- KVK Sirohi

Off Campus Trainings: Off Campus Trainings are carried out at a suitable place/progressive farmer farm where all facilities of that particular training is available. Two thousand sixty one progressive farmers, farm women and youths were trained by 80 off campus trainings during these 5 years. They were acquainted with information on various areas of crop management and farming system, value addition in farm produce, women and child care. Progressive farmers and farm women were motivated to adopt income generating activities and their income was enhanced by 18-22 per cent with these activities.

Off campus training, Date- 21/02/2019  Venue- Village: Sonadi (Sirohi)	Off campus training, Date: 09/10/2019, Venue- Village:  Nimbora (Sirohi)

Sponsored Trainings: One hundred six training programmes sponsored by Bio-fuel authority, ATMA, Agriculture Department, WDRA New Delhi & other line department on Kitchen Gardening, Mushroom production, Bee Keeping, Bio Diesel, Kharif & Rabi Campaign, Nursery Management, Vermi-compost making, Warehouse Management etc. were conducted. Six thousand and three farming community members were trained during this period.

Awareness training on safe storage of grain sponsored by WDRA, New Delhi Date- 22/03/2017	SMS-Home science delivering lecture in training programmes  at  village ……… Date-13/01/2020, Venue-Gudamalani, Barmer area

Table 2: On Campus, Off Campus and Sponsored Agencies Training organized for farmers by KVK Sirohi

3. Frontline Demonstrations:

a. FLDs on Pulses (NFSM): Under NFSM (National Food Security Mission), total 772 demos were laid out during this period (Table 2). Green gram grown with improved practices gave 22.9 to 39.7 per cent increase in seed yield in different seasons over farmers practice grown crop. Similarly, chickpea varieties grown with all improved practices revealed additional net return ranging from Rs 9,100 - 19,308/- per ha over local chick pea.

Field of green gram (variety- GAM5) under CFLD pulses, Venue- Village: Vadka (Sirohi)	Field Day of chickpea (variety- RSG974) Date- 05/02/2019,Venue- Village: Arthwara (Sirohi)

b. FLDs on Oilseeds (NFSM): FLDs on sesame and mustard were laid out during 2015-16 to 2018-19 whereas during 2019-20, castor hybrid GCH 7 and GCH 8 along with these crops were also demonstrated at farmer’s field. The highest increase of 27.5 per cent in seed yield of mustard was recorded in 2015-16. Castor demonstrations laid out in 2019 recorded 32.6 per cent increase in bean yield with additional net return of Rs 49,020/- per ha over local castor crop.

 

Field of mustard (variety- Giriraj) under CFLD oilseeds, Venue- Village : Nimbora (Sirohi)	Front line demonstration field of Sesame variety - RT 351, Venue- Village : Jhadoliveer (Sirohi)

c. FLDs (Other Crops): FLDs on Wheat, Maize, Tomato, Bottle Gourd and Cumin were demonstrated at farmers’ field. During 2015-16, demonstration of wheat and vegetables were also laid out under postman help programme sponsored by IARI, New Delhi. These demonstrations provided additional net return ranging from Rs 8,620/- to 23,973/- per ha over farmers practice grown wheat, maize, cumin and vegetables. Tomato grown with all improved packages increased fruit yield by 26.9 per cent over local crop and gave additional net return of Rs 60,000/- per ha during 2019-20.

FLD of maize variety DHM-121 under TSP project	Field day on tomato crop variety Arka rakshak, Venue: Village Nimbora

d. FLDs on livestock: Improved mineral mixture bricks were fed to one cow for one months along with the local ration. The milk yield during this period was compared with milk yield of same cow for next month without improved ration. This intervention was repeated for confirmation. This practice improved milk yield by 20 per cent resulting gain of additional benefit of Rs 3,318/- per cow in two months.

Demonstration of Ankleshwer breed of poultry birds for backyard poultry farming under TSP, Date:	Demonstration of Sirohi buck under TSP project to the tribal farmer of Abu road and Pindwara block, Date:

4. On Farm Trials (OFT):

Title: Assessment of new castor hybrids in Sirohi area
Result:  Castor hybrid GCH-8 released from SDAU, SK Nagar recorded 9.5 per cent higher bean yield with additional benefit of Rs 29,450/- per ha over GCH 7 castor hybrid. This hybrid was found more tolerant against sucking pest, root rot and wilt disease of castor.

Title: Varietal assessment of papaya in Sirohi District
Result: Papaya variety Arka surya procured from IIHR, Bangalore provided net return of Rs 4.24 lacs per ha with B:C ratio of 6.66. Whereas, variety Red lady 786 of Taiwan provided net return of Rs 4.56 lacs per ha with B: C ratio 6.07. Both these varieties were found suitable for the soil and agro-climatic condition of Sirohi.

Title: Management of Alternaria leaf spot of castor
Result: Seed treatment with Carbendazim 3g/kg followed by treatment with Trichoderma viride powder @ 10 g/kg seed along with foliar spray of Propiconazole @ 1 ml/liter water before peak spread of disease was found suitable practice for management of Alternaria leaf spot of castor. This practice provided additional return of Rs. 24,834/- per ha over local practice of seed treatment with Thiram 3g/kg seed.

Title: Assessment of crop geometry of papaya for mechanical inter-culture
Result: Two years mean result revealed that planting papaya at row x plant spacing of 2.5 m x 1.6 m and mechanical inter-culture with tractor reduced the cost of cultivation by Rs 26,000/- per ha and increased the net return by 10 per cent over traditional planting at 2 x 2 m row x plant spacing with manual inter-culture. This practice facilitated mechanical inter-culture and also reduced the infestation of viral diseases of papaya resulting better growth and higher fruit yield.

Title: Assessment of crop geometry and sowing method of okra
Result: Two years mean result revealed that planting okra at spacing of 30 x 45/90 cm in pair row sowing with increased no. of plants (13,000 plants/ha) significantly improved fruit yield by 14 per cent and net return by Rs. 24,000/- per ha. This assessment shows the importance of paired row planting and better utilization of area. Farmers of Sirohi area are now growing okra through above referred method.

Title: Overcoming the problem of true anestrous (infertility) in cow through improved nutritional management
Result: Before assessment of this technology, farmers were not aware about true anestrous (infertility). The treatment of proper feeding 1-2 kg cattle feed, deworming with Albendazole, application of vitamin mineral mixture @ 30gm/head/day for 2 months resulted in significant improvement in overcoming anestrous problem and postpartum estrus. These problems were suppressed by 70 & 10 per cent, respectively with this treatment over un treated animals.

Title: Effect of supplementing urea molasses mineral block (UMMB) on performance of cattle
Result: Feeding of urea molasses mineral block (UMMB) containing different energy and protein sources encouraged optimal fermentation and microbial protein synthesis in the rumen of cattle maintained solely on wheat straw based diet. Under this assessment, feeding routine conventional feeding practices (grazing four hours + Maize Stover ad lib. + concentrate mixture @ 40% of milk yield and UMMB additionally @300g/head/day gave good result. B: C ratio was 2.00 as compare to the local chain (1.76).

Field of OFT on management of Alternaria leaf spot of castor, Venue- Village: Arathwada (Sirohi)	Performance of papaya crop variety Arka Surya, Venue- Village: Arathwada (Sirohi)

5. Villages Adopted and Activities carried out in Village:

Under Village Adoption Programme, KVK Sirohi adopted Posintara, Maliyo ki Dhani, Bapudara, Saatapura, Kachholi, Panch devala, Jhamar, Phulabai ka Kheda, Awal and Moras villages.
Some of these villages belongs to tribal area of the Sirohi District. These villages were selected keeping in mind the aim of enhancing the income and improvement in livelihood of tribal farmers. Benchmark survey was done and then development programmes were framed. Eighty-Five Units (20 chicks =1 unit) of chicks consisting of 4 male and 16 female of improved breed of poultry Pratapdhan and Ankleshwar were introduced as back yard poultry in two villages.  This breed provided more no of eggs resulting higher return to the small and marginal farmers. Looking to the success of this intervention, many Farm Women adopted the new technology of poultry farming which is now a common practice in the village.

Apart from this, 120 storage bins were provided to 120 tribal farmers of four villages. This infrastructure supported in increasing shelf life of grains and seed. Similarly, KVK  provided knapsack sprayer to the 100 tribal farmers. Swach Bharat Abhiyan, repair of the water reservoir, front line demonstrations, trainings on various aspects of IFS were vigorously conducted in the villages resulting improvement in the net income of farmers. Farmers from these villages were brought to the KVKs to get them acquaint with various development activities and trainings. Due to technological intervention of KVK Sirohi, revolutionary changes were noticed among tribal farming community of these villages.

Villages under Doubling Farmer's Income (DFI): Rukhara (Sheoganj) and Thandi Beri villages of Pindwara Tehsil of Sirohi District were selected under DFI. KVK, Sirohi launched various technological interventions like FLDs, OFTs, training programs, application of  Trichoderma viride fungicide for management of wilt in cumin castor and other crops, promotion of kharif onion and old orchard rejuvenation.

6. Seed Production:

KVK, Sirohi is producing certified/TFL seed at its instructional farm in 12 ha area. During these five years, KVK produced 278.08 q seed of improved variety of sesame, mustard, green gram, cluster bean, cumin and chickpea crops. Most of the seed produced at KVK farm was sold to the farmers of sirohi area.

Table 8: Seed production at KVK Farms

7. Other Products (Nursery saplings at KVK farm):
KVK, Sirohi nursery produced and sold 1,78,500 plant saplings during 2015-16 to 2019-20. The KVK nursery is only source of getting papaya seedling of Red Lady-786 in Sirohi area. KVK Sirohi has taken initiatives for accreditation of its Nursery.

Table 9: Nursery Saplings production at KVK Farms

8. Special programmes (National Levels Programmes):

Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana: Kisan Mela was organized at KVK, Sirohi premises to draw to attention of farmers and to understand PMFBY. Shri Devji Patel, Hon’ble MP, Sirohi and Jalore, along with 540 farmers attended the programme on 05.04.2016.

	Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Jal Shakti Abhiyan sponsored by Ministry of Jal Sakti was launched for creating awareness among stake holders and farmers on water conservation and rain water harvesting during 01-15th Sept., 2019. Kisan Mela with Exhibition on the themes and Farmer-Scientist Interaction was organized at Awal, Tehsil- Abu road with gathering of 1600 farmers on 03th Sept, 2019.
Jal Shakti Abhiyan Kisan Mela programme, Date- 30/09/2019, Venue: Awal

Krishi Kalyan Abhiyan: It was launched by Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ welfare for doubling the farmer’s income up to 2022. In all, 112 Aspirational Districts were selected at country level.  In Rajasthan, it was launched in five Districts including Sirohi. The main theme of this programme was to train the farmers on various farming aspects for doubling farmers’ income up to 2022. Three hundred fifty NADEP Compost pit were built free of cost at the selected small and marginal farmer’s field.

Farmers participating in "Kisan mela" organized under Jal Shakti Abhiyan, Date- 03/09/2019, Venue- Village: Anwal (Sirohi)	Farm women participating in "Kisan mela" organized under Jal Shakti Abhiyan, Date- 03/09/2019, Venue- Village: Anwal (Sirohi)

9. Kisan Mela/ Sammelan:

Pre-Rabi Kisan Sammelan: Kisan Sammelan comprising of two hundred fifty farmers was organized on 28th Dec., 2018 at KVK premises to disseminate Rabi crop Package of practices amongst the farmers of Sirohi District.

10. Extension Activities of KVK:
During this period KVK, Sirohi organized 39 field days, 13 technologies exhibitions along with 87 film shows, conducted 56 diagnostic team survey/problematic field visits and 35 farmer-scientist interaction.

11. Publications:
During this period, 06 Extension Manuals, 08 Research Papers, 28 Leaflets, 06 Booklets, 05 Popular Articles were published for the benefit of farmers.

12. Five major revolutions happened in the jurisdiction area of KVK:

• Survey indicated that implementation of mandatory activities of KVK have increased income of various group of farmers’ by 25-30 per cent. Establishment of different modules of IFS like protected cultivation structures, use of improved and new varieties of crops, dairy units, NADEP and vemi-composting units, Azolla and Napier grass units are common at the Sirohi farmers’ fields now days. Oil seeds, especially castor cultivation was promoted and there are many farmers which are harvesting more than 60 q/ha bean yield from irrigated castor which is highest in Rajasthan.

• KVK, Sirohi has promoted pomoculture extensively. By producing and selling papaya saplings of variety Red lady-786 and Arka Surya and disseminating mechanical inter-culture techniques developed through OFT, papaya cultivation has spread in the area to good extent. Similarly, the institute has promoted pomegranate, lime, custard apple, sapota and ber cultivation by extension activities. The technique of renovation of old lime orchard is very famous amongst farmers.

• The goat unit of KVK, Sirohi has contributed significantly in improving the goat breed of District. Improved and pure Sirohi bucks for breed improvement were made available for sale by KVK, Sirohi.

• As District comprises of major tribal area of Rajasthan, institute have focused towards improvement and enhancement of livelihood of the tribal farmers through implementing various activities (back yard poultry, trainings on micro-irrigation and seed storage unit demos FLDs and other) under TSP. Notable work has been done under TSP for the overall growth of tribal farmers.

• Nursery being an integral part of KVK, served farmers in terms of providing seedlings of latest varieties and hybrids of tomato, cauliflower, drumstick, chilli which are suitable for the agro climatic region of Sirohi. More than 1.78 lakhs saplings of fruits and vegetables were sold to the farmers.

13. Other Significant Achievements:

• KVK, Sirohi have setup custard apple unit of different improved varieties like Arka Shan, Balanagar, Anona-2, N.M.K.-1 for the farmers visiting the institute.

• KVK, Sirohi have also setup solar plates at roof top of adm building, waste de-composting unit, new lemon orchard in 2 ha area and procured solar vegetable drying unit, renovated its training hall with the financial (14.48 lacs) support of Deputy Director ATMA, Sirohi during these five years. The institute also managed Power Sprayer unit from Dept. of Agril. Extn, GOR free of cost for locust control in the area.

• The KVK has developed 16 ha of land by removing Julliflora through open auction in Rs. 6.65 lacs and developing the same piece of land for cultivation. The complete land available at KVK farmers was brought under cultivation during these five years step by step.

• The left over boundary wall 1450 m of KVK premises was constructed during this period for which the project entitled “Strengthening of seed production farms of Agriculture University, Jodhpur” was submitted to RKVY jointly by Director Research and DEE, AU, Jodhpur. An amount of Rs. 95.00 lacs was incurred for constructing boundary wall.

• KVK, Sirohi provided space (3M x 3M) to Reliance Communication for putting Mobile Signal Tower at the left front corner of premises near highway. Institute is earning Rs. 10,000/- per annum as a rent from this venture from 2016 onwards.

• Subject Matters Specialists (Plant Protection) and In-charge, Tribal sub plan Dr. R.P.S. Jetawat was felicitated by District Collector Sirohi for his meritorious services rendered to tribal of the Sirohi District on the eve of Republic Day 26.01.2019.

• Various activities assigned under the programmes for Aspirational District Scheme, Krishi Kalyan Abhiyan, Jal Shakti Abhiyan of GOI and others were carried out timely and their objectives were full filled in perfect manner.

• Pomegranate grower & contact farmer of KVK Sirohi Shri Navdeep Golechha, Village: Veravilpur District- Sirohi was awarded best farmer award along with cash prize of Rs. 2,100/- by Hon. VC, AU Jodhpur in Western Regional Agriculture Fair 2018 held at AU, Jodhpur campus during 28th-31st Jan., 2018.

• Contact farmers of KVK Sirohi i.e. Shri Ishaq Ali of Village: Kacholi, Fennel Grower (Saving of irrigation water through Paired Row planting in Fennel, vertical drying of fennel and developing variety of fennel: Abu Saunf-420) and Shri Navdeep Golechha, Village: Veravilpur, Pomegranate Grower (Quality Pomegranate Production with Mulch & Drip and Innovative Marketing of the Production) were awarded Krishak Samrat Samman Award by Mahindra Samridhi India Agriculture Award in 2018 and 2019, respectively.

Shri Ishaq Ali  receiving Krishak Samrat Samman Award by Mahindra Samridhi India Agriculture Award in 2018	Shri Navdeep Golechha receiving Krishak Samrat Samman Award by Mahindra Samridhi India Agriculture Award in 2019