1. Introduction:

Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Gudamalani is an extension based grass root level institute established on April, 2012 by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research under the auspices of Agriculture University, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, to promote farmers for adoption of latest technical know-how in agriculture and allied fields. It aims sustainable growth in productivity and income of agriculture by bridging the time lag between technology generation at the research institution and its transfer to the farmer’s field. The district occupies prominent place in the agro-climatic zone-I a, “Arid Western Plain Zone”. It covers total geographical area of 28387 sq. km., accounting for 8.29 percent of the total reporting area of the Rajasthan state. The number of 2965 inhabited villages in the seventeen blocks and fourteen tehsils of the district. The total population of the district is 26,03,751  with 4,36,414 (16.76 %) scheduled castes. The sex ratio in the district is 902 and density of population is 69 per square. The population of the Barmer district is predominantly rural based with 95.3 per cent of the total population living in villages. Literacy rate in is 59.65 percent which is below the State average. 
The climate is extremely arid, characteristics by low and erratic rainfall. The mean annual rainfall varies from 210 mm at Sheo to 346 mat Siwana. The rainfall is received during monsoon months of June to September. The maximum and minimum temperature of the district varies between 49o to 1o C. Western and Southern part of the district is covered with sand dune and sandy plains while central and the eastern oaky/part is dominated by sandy plain with scattered rocky/gravely uplands. Luni River enters in the district at Eastern margin and flows towards southern-west direction. Along the banks of the river, alluviums  is charged with salinity due to poor quality water. In rest of the area, rainfed farming is common practice in sandy plains and interdunes.

KVK Gudamalani Barmer II Building	Karaknath Poultry Unit at KVK, Gudamalani, Barmer

Sand dunes and desert soils occupy major area in the zone. There are aeoline soils and loamy fine to coarse and calcareous at places. Soil of areais  low in organic matter and medium N, P and high in K. Deficiency of micro nutrient Zinc, Sulfur and Iron have also started appearing in the district mainly in cash crops. The net sown area of the district is 18, 93, 136 ha which is 65.6 per cent of the total geographical area. The net irrigated area in the district is 2,96,091 ha which is 15.6 per cent of the net sown area. Tube wells, open wells and canal Narmada are the major source of irrigation.
The crop sequences followed by cultivators are pearl millet-fallow, Kharif (Moong, Mothbean) pulses-fallow, Clusterbean- fallow under rain fed condition whereas Castor-fallow, and pearl millet-Cumin/Isabgol/Mustard/Wheat under irrigated conditions. The productivity of major crops are lower in comparison to state average. The district has diversified agriculture scenario with cultivation of number of field crop, vegetables, spices, medicinal crop, orchards especially Pomegranate, Date palm, Ber etc. The total area under fruits and vegetables is more than 11,713 ha with major area under pomegranate and Ber in fruits. The livestock population of the district is 54.16 lac, out of which cattle is 7.88 lac, buffalo 2.14 lac, sheep 14.04 lac and goat 28.96 lac. Decreasing water table, sandy, saline and alkaline soils & low quality of underground water, blight & wilt in Cumin, Wilt in Isabgol and Castor, Namatode and fruit cracking in Pomegranate, lack of quality planting material, destruction of crops by wild boars and blue bulls are some major problems of the district.
The KVK is located 102 km away from district head quarter. The farm is having land area of 20 ha out of which 7.5 ha is cultivated with vocational unit of Integrated Farming System, Soil water testing laboratory, Sirohi goat unit, Karaknath poultry unit, Azola Unit, vermi-compost unit, waste decomposer unit, etc. Besides administrative building and farmers’ hostel are also available. At present, Sr. Sci. and Head along with two SMS (Agriculture Extension and Horticulture), two PA (Lab Technician and Computer Operator), farm Manager, one Junior stenographer, one Driver and one Support Staff are working at KVK, Barmer II.
Table 1: Area and Productivity of major crops in Barmer District in 2015-16 & 2019-20*

* Krishi Vibhag, GOR, Jaipur
2. Training Achievements:
On Campus Trainings: The Kendra organized 56 on campus training programmes for techno-economic empowerment and skill improvement of 1430 farmers & farm women. These trainings were organized in the specific area of agriculture and allied sciences, i.e., crop production, horticulture, plant protection, animal production, soil science, home science and medicinal crops.  In these trainings, main emphasis was given on adoption of Integrated Farming System and Climate Resilient Technologies. A positive response of farmers was seen in the fields and follow up survey indicated that majority of beneficiaries adopted economically viable IFS and climate resilient technologies resulting increased farm income.

 

IDM in Cumin, Date- 15/01/2019, Venue- KVK Gudamalani	ICM in Bajra, Date-26-06-2019, Venue- KVK Gudamalani

Off Campus Trainings: The Kendra organized 66 off campus training programmes for techno-economic empowerment and skill improvement of 1539 farmers, youths & farm women. These trainings motivated large number of farm families to adopt newly generated advanced technologies to raise their income and livelihood security. These trainings were based on need and resource availability and the objectives & course content were framed with the active participation of trainees.

Formation and Management of SHG, Date- 19/12/2019  Venue- Village: Nai Undari, Gudamalani	Value Addition of Milk, Date- 13/01/2020, Venue- Village: Kandi ki Dhani, Gudamalani

Sponsored Trainings: The Kendra organized 28 sponsored training programmes on Integrated Crop Management, Horticulture crop, Kitchen Gardening, Kharif, Rabi Campaign, Nursery Management , Vermi Composting, Ware house Management etc. In all, 1124 farmers & farm women were benefited.

 

Nursery Management, Date- 14/02/2020, Venue-  KVK Gudamalani	WDRA Training, Date- 27/01/2020, Venue- KVK Gudamalani

Table 2: On Campus, Off Campus and Sponsored agencies training organized for farmers by        KVK, Gudamalani

Year	On Campus Training		Off Campus Training		Sponsored Training
	No.	Participants	No.	Participants	No.	Participants
2015-16	08	123	18	254	-	-
2016-17	08	198	10	267	01	44
2017-18	10	252	11	265	10	381
2018-19	20	623	15	453	12	535
2019-20	10	234	12	300	05	164
Total	56	1430	66	1539	28	1124

3. Frontline Demonstrations:
a. FLDs on Pulses (NFSM):
Green gram: With an aim to demonstrate frontline technologies on farmers field, to generate production data and feedback, Under NFSM scheme Cluster FLD on kharif pulse crop KVK demonstrated GM 4 and GM 6 variety of green gram through 100 FLD’s in 40 ha area and an increase in yield of 37.7 per cent was recorded over farmers practice. Looking to the performance of GM 4 and GM 6 varieties, the area under these varieties was increased four folds in FLD sites and nearby areas.

Moth bean: Under NFSM scheme, cluster FLDs on kharif pulse crop, KVK demonstrated RMO-435 variety of Mothbean through 125 FLD’s in 60 ha area and an increase in yield of 33.7 per cent was recorded over farmers practice. Looking to the performance of RMO-435 variety, the area under this variety was increased twice-thrice times in the adopted villages.

Chickpea: Under NFSM scheme, Cluster FLD on Rabi pulses crop chickpea crop demonstrated to farmers’ field in the area of 60 ha covering 84 farmers of Paliyali, Dabla, Gandhav, Berigaon villages. The technology demonstrated under the Cluster FLD was seed of GNG 1581 variety and other inputs. The average yield of demonstration plot of variety GNG 1581 was 14.5 q per ha which was 32.6 per cent higher than farmers’ plot yield.

 

 

Table 6: Seed yield and economics of FLD laid out at farmers’ fields

Year and No.	Variety	Yield (q/ha)		Per cent increase over FP	Net Return (Rs/ha)		Add Net Return over FP (Rs/ha)	Site/ Village
		Farmer practice	Improved Practice		Farmer practice	Improved Practice
Long melon
2018-19 (5)	Thar Sheetal	142.0	187.5	32.0	1,46,500	2,11,000	64,500	Bhedana, Dedawas Jagir
2019-20 (5)	Thar Sheetal	137.5	192.0	39.6	1,33,900	2,13,500	79,600	Ratanpura and  Gandhav

OFT on Long melon, Date- 14/06/2019, Venue- Village: Bhedana, Gudamalani	OFT on Ber, Date- 23/01/2020 Venue- Village: Rajeshwar nagar, Gudamalani

4. On Farm Trials:

Title: Management of flower and fruit drop in ber  
Result: The result indicate that delayed pruning (10-15 June) gave 23.1 per cent increase in fruit yield of ber over normal pruning time (20-25 April). This practice provided additional net return of Rs 48,100/- per ha. Farmers in Barmer area adopted delayed pruning in Ber.

Title: Management of ridge gourd through crop supporting net
Result: The results showed that growing ridge gourd on raised bed with crop supporting net enhanced the ridge gourd yield by 66.2 per cent over crop grown in furrows without net. This practice recorded net profit of Rs. 1,85,750/- per ha.

Title: Herbicidal weed management in isabgol
Results: Foliar application of Oxydiargyl @ 50 g/ha at 20 DAS super imposed with one hand weeding 35 DAS recorded seed yield of 9.36 q/ha which was 27.5 per cent higher over farmers practice of one hand weeding 20 DAS. This practice earned profit of Rs 35,800/- ha with B:C ratio 3.11  as against Rs 26,280/- recorded under farmers practice with B:C ratio 2.73.

Title: Management of fruit cracking and hardening in pomegranate
Results: An assessment trial was conducted by KVK Barmer II to manage the fruit cracking and hardening in Pomegranate. The result indicated that the use of soil application of Gypsum @ 2 kg/plant + MgSo4 @ 750 g/plant along with two foliar application of Boric Acid @ 0.25 %  (at initiation of flower bud stage and one month after first spray) reduced the problem significantly and gave 25.5 per cent higher fruit yield over control. This technology was popularized amongst farmers and survey indicates that farmers are satisfied & adopting this technology.

 

Ridge gourd sowing on raised bed with crop supporting net, Date-  15/09/2018,Venue- Gudamalani	Effect of Time of Pruning on Growth and Yield in Ber, Date-17/01/2019,Venue- Village: Bhakharpura Gudamalani

5. Villages Adopted and Activities Carried Out in Village:

KVK Gudamalani adopted Village Bhedana (192 households) and Rajeshwar Nagar (130 Households) of Tehsil-Gudamalani. These villages were selected keeping in mind the aim of enhancing the livelihood of the Thar Desert farmers by disseminating agro-techniques, cleanliness campaign, kisan Gosthees, visits of adopted village farmers to KVKs and University hq, solving their problems through farmer-scientist interaction and other developmental activities. Plan of work of adopted village was framed after base line survey.

The productivity of Pearlmillet, Wheat, Moth bean, Cumin, Isabgol, Mustard, Gram and Green gram crops were less in the adopted villages due to use of local seeds, imbalance fertilization, poor plant protection measures and poor knowledge. KVK scientists intervened in the adopted villages and empowered their knowledge and change attitude & demonstrated new technologies in their fields, resulting improvement in seed yield of these crops by 30 - 36 per cent.  

Improvement in Income of Adopted Village Farmers after Intervention of KVK

S. No.	Crop/Enterprise	Farm Families	Av. Income Increment/family/annum (Rs)
1	FLD on ICM in Mustard (Giriraj)	8	11,000 – 14,000
2	FLD on  ICM in Pearlmillet (MPMH 17)	10	5,000 – 8,000
3	FLD on ICM in Cumin (GC 4)	6	12,000 – 16,000
4	OFT on  Yield losses due to flower and fruit drop in Ber	5	8,000 – 10,000
5	FLD on Fodder beet	5	3,000 – 5,000

 

Field day at pearl millet FLD site, Date-24/09/2018, Venue- Village: Bhedana, Gudamalani	Field day at cumin FLD site, Date-04/02/2020, Venue- Village: Daboi, Gudamalani

6. Seed Production:
The KVK farm is still not developed fully. Levelling and other development work is continue at Farm. During 2019-20, 1.06, 2.50, 1.00 & 2.50 q seed of green gram variety GM 6, moth bean RMO 435, cumin GC 4 and Isabgol RI 1, respectively was produced at KVK Gudamalani Farm.

7. Other Products: Nil

8. Special programmes:
Pradhan Mantri Fasal BimaYojana: PMFBY programme was organized on 05.04.2016 at Town hall of Barmer to draw to attention of farmers and to understand PMFBY. Shri Tarun Kaga, MLA, Chohtan, Sh. P. L. Nehra CEO, Zila Parishad, Barmer attended the programme and near about Six hundred fifty farmers attended the event.

Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Jal Shakti Abhiyan sponsored by Ministry of Jal Sakti, GOI was launched for creating awareness among stake holders and farmers on water conservation and rain water harvesting during 15th July to 03 Sept., 2019. 7 Kisan Melas, Exhibition on the themes and Farmer-Scientist Interaction was organized at Gudamalani, Dhorimanna, Patodi, Balotara, Gida Sindhari and Samdari with gathering of 1598 farmers.

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Kisan Mela: On the eve of completion of one year of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi a Kisan Mela on 24.02.2020 was organized at KVK premises for creating awarness about the scheme amongst farmers.

Sh. Kailash Choudhary, MoS Agriculture and Farmer Welfare, GOI, Hon’ble Vice chancellor Dr. B.R. Choudhary, Dr. Ishwar Singh, DEE, Dr. S.K. Singh, Director ATARI Zone II Jodhpur, Dr. O.P. Yadav, Director CAZRI, Dr. Gopal Lal, Director NRCSS Ajmer and other dignitaries attended the Kisan Mela. Seven thousand farmers attended the event. In all, 65 Exhibition Stalls of different Agro-techniques, Farm Machinery, Live crop samples, improved breed of animals, soil testing facility were laid out in the one day event by different Institutes.

Jal Shakti Abhiyan Kisan Mela, Date-23/08/2019 Venue- KVK Gudamalani	PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Kisan Mela, Date- 24/02/2020,  Venue- KVK Gudamalani

9. Kisan Mela:
For rapid transfer of proven technologies, various extension activities are being organized regularly by the KVK. During reporting period 09 Kisan Melas were organized to motivate farmers (11130) for adoption of new technologies. The scientists from deifferent institute delivered lectures as resource persons and various institute exhibited the technology.

Kisan Mela, Date- 05/07/2018, Venue- KVK Gudamalani	Pre-Rabi Kisan Mela, Date-21/12/2018, Venue- KVK Gudamalani

 
Medical Camp for Farmers:  A Medical Camp was organized with six specialist Doctors in Village Dhandhlawas on 21-05-2019 for the farmers. The CAIRN Energy sponsored the programme and medicines of Rs. One lakh were distributed free of cost to the needy farmers by CAIRN Energy.

Health Checkup Camp for farmers, Date- 21/05/2019, Venue- Village: Dhandhlawas,  Gudamalani

10. Other Activities of KVK:

Year	Field Days	Exhibitions	Advisory Services	Film Shows	Diagnostic Visits	Farmer Scientist Interactions
2015-16	04	02	213	01	04	04
2016-17	03	02	246	06	05	06
2017-18	01	01	211	06	06	04
2018-19	08	05	946	28	05	04
2019-20	09	08	927	26	20	05
Total	25	18	2543	67	40	23

11. Publications:

Year	Extension Manuals	Booklets	Popular Articles	Research Papers	Pamphlets	Leaflets
2015-16	-	-	02	-	-	-
2016-17	-	-	03	-	-	-
2017-18	-	-	04	-	-	-
2018-19	3	02	04	02	06	02
2019-20	3	05	05	05	06	03
Total	06	07	18	07	12	05

 

12. Five Major Revolutions Happened in the Jurisdiction Area of KVK

• Execution of mandatory activities of KVKs were proven very effective and beneficial. The GC 4 variety of cumin which is tolerant to wilt and blight diseases completely replaced all other varieties.

 

• The Gum production technique of CAZRI, Jodhpur through injecting Ethephon in the stem of local Kumat tree (Acacia senegal) was also proven beneficial practices. During reporting period, a total 13,675 demonstration recorded average yield 552.1 Kg gum per ha which was five to ten time higher over un- injected tree. This practice is now adopted by many farmers.

• KVK has introduced Pomegranate, Date palm and Gonda in arid environment with limited irrigation. Gradually Pomegranate and Date palm has spread in all areas of Barmer District and the farmers are earnings very good return from these horticultural crops. KVK is continuously monitoring and solving the problems these crops standing in farmers’ fields.

 

13. Other Significant Achievements:

• The significant work of our staff and Farmers have been recognized as District as well as at Block level. Four progressive farmers have been awarded by ATMA at District level as Progressive Farmers. Similarly our two KVK staff and five farmers at have been awarded by ATMA at block level. Five farmers have been awarded by Padma-shree Mag Raj Jain award.

 

• Construction work of new administrative building has been completed and soil water testing laboratory is fully functional.

• Twenty one days Para-vet cum AI course organized at KVK Gudamalani resulted in employment generation by nine trainees who started working as Para-vet cum AI workers. They are earning income of Rs.15,000-17,000/- per month from this entrepreneurship.

 

• Farmer’s Producer Organization (FPO) was formed with the help of NABARD, Barmer to improve marketing and income enhancement of the pomegranate growers of Barmer. Rs.11.50 lakh have been sanctioned in first phase by NABARD and total Rs. 21.0 lakh will be released in near future as per mandate of FPO. In all, 330 farmers are members of this FPO. The requisite fee for the member is Rs. 1,000/- member. KVK Gudamalani is the implementing agency of the FPO.

• KVK, Gudamalani is also providing technical support to 600 WADIs set up with the financial support of CAIRN Energy, Barmer to strengthen the livelihood of the farmers. There are 600 WADIs presently existing at farmers’ fields in Barmer district. One hundred fruit plants (pomegranate, ber and lasoda) had been given free of cost by the CAIRN Energy, Barmer. All support to raise the WADI was given by company and these WADIs are flourished under  the technical support of KVK Gudamalani.

 

• Three WhatsApp group consisting of 250 farmers each are also constituted by KVK Gudamalani for providing solutions of farmer’s problems in KVK jurisdiction area.  

• KVK Gudamalani has raised its RF from less than one lakh to eight lakh by conducted eight fifteen days Fertilizer Awareness/Certificate course for retailors and farmers of Barmer.

 

• KVK has been sanctioned two new Project in March 2020: ARYA (Attracting and retaining Youth in Agriculture) by ATARI, ICAR, New Delhi and DAMU (District Agro-met Unit) by IMD, New Delhi under GKMS Scheme for benefitting farmers of the Barmer.

• KVK Gudamalani has recently set up one Sirohi goat model unit and one Karaknath poultry model unit at its premises for the farmers. For this purpose (11+2, female and male) goats were purchased from CSWRI, Avikanagar and Karaknath poultry breed unit (40+10 female and male) have been purchased from KVK, Bikaner.

 

• KVK Gudamalani has also developed one date palm orchard by planting ten plants of medjool variety. KVK at its premises have also setup as model unit of Ber (Gola, 100 plants), karonda (thar kamal, 100 plants), falsa (thar pragati, 50 plants), pomegranate (bhagwa, 50 plants), Khejri (thar shobha, 50 plants), Drum stick (thar harsha, 50) and one medicinal plants garden at its premise.