Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) do face a number of governance challenges. Addressing these issues is important to enhance the contribution and impact of KVKs argues Dr P N Ananth.
BACKDROP
Establishment of KVKs was an important institutional innovation by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). Over the past four decades, the number of KVKs has expanded to 642. While its role and contribution to agricultural technology assessment and dissemination is widely appreciated, it has also received an equal share of criticism. No other agricultural system large or small in the world has such a frontline decentralized research capacity at the district level. Recent reviews on KVK (ICAR, 2013) have raised several concerns on its performance. But several issues related to Governance of KVKs remain unrecognised over the years. This blog discusses some of these issues.
GOVERNANCE: THE MISSING PIECE
The AESA Blog 46 (Chander, 2015) discussed in detail the evolution of KVKs. KVKs face a number of challenges. This blog deals with the governance of KVKs which hasn’t received enough attention so far, though NARS is discussing about Good Governance in Agriculture for some time (Box 1). I feel that the performance of KVKs directly depends on the quality of its governance.
| Box 1: Good Governance in Agriculture
Governance is defined as the way a system or organisation is guided and steered. From the perspective of NARS (National Agricultural Research System), governance is related to guiding, actuating and steering its research; education and extension functions towards growth and improved performance. Growth and improved performance depend upon an enabling environment to perform (internal processes i.e., rules and procedures) and generation of S&T (Science & Technology) goods with relevance and utility to all stakeholders. Good governance certainly rises above the routine application of internal administrative and financial rules and procedures in managing the affairs of organisations. Good governance framework is built around three dimensions—internal mechanisms, performance and accountability. The internal mechanisms relate to how decision-making roles and responsibilities are defined, accepted and applied to establish overall work culture. Performance dimension—a key external variable of good governance—relates to the use of resource inputs with product outputs. Accountability—an external dimension of good governance, is defined as responsibility for performing those tasks or achieving those results for which the individual or the organisation is delegated the necessary authority. Source: NAAS (2002) |
The major issues related to governance that affects the performance of KVKs are discussed below.
Support from Host Institution
The success of a KVK ultimately depends on the quality of support it receives from the host institution. KVKs are hosted by different types of organisations such as ICAR Institutes, State Agricultural Universities, NGOs and even agriculture and other development departments. The host institutions at first need to fully understand the mandate of KVK and should have adequate resources to support the functioning of the KVK. While resources are available, there are cases where these are not extended to KVKs. There are several instances where host institution deploys the staff of KVKs to handle other jobs and responsibilities in the host institution. The Programme Coordinator of the KVK has little control on his staff in such situations. This is affecting the performance of the KVKs and there should be a mechanism to address this issue at the earliest.
My personal experiences with the host institution managing one of the KVK hosted by the NGO helped me to fully understand the critical role of host institution in the performance of KVK. The host institution rarely comes forward to support the KVK financially whenever there are delays in fund transfer from ICAR. While working as Training Organiser with that KVK, all my staff including myself used to get salary at the end of each month only for 6-7 months. Later, we used to get it together after 4 to5 months due to the delay in fund transfer to the KVK. The same situation prevails even today. Sometimes I wonder what other sacrifices KVK personnel need to do to support this system? Even in KVKs under the ICAR institutes, it is hard to get the powers of a Programme Coordinator fully delegated from the Institute. All these highlight the need for addressing some of these issues so as to provide the right environment for KVK personnel to perform better. Often host institutes utilise the expertise of KVKs in mobilising farmer groups for their work and allot duties based on their priorities, but rarely support the KVK in delivering its mandate. Without the full support of the host institution, it is difficult for KVKs to perform up to their potential.
Capabilities of KVK
As a team, KVKis competent to manage its mandate, as the administrative and financial guidelines regarding its management are clear. The KVK personnel are also capable of organising any type of training including training of extension functionaries, etc. The Programme Coordinator and SMS (Subject Matter Specialist) are aware of the prevailing situations, farmer needs, technologies in the market and what not. Moreover, the trainers of KVK are as equally qualified as any academic faculty from the SAU and any Scientist of ICAR. Unfortunately, the capability of professionals is assessed by their place of posting. Many believe that the training of extension functionaries should be handled by the scientists of SAUs or ICAR only (though they have little field experience) and not by the KVK faculty.
Moreover, while the KVK personnel often have the same level of educational qualification and years of experience within the system, they are placed in lower grades than people working in the research centres. Though many call KVK personnel as KVK scientists, officially they don’t belong to the scientific category (except the Programme Coordinator). We need to look at these issues too while we reform KVKs. The High Power Committee on Management of KVKs has recommended converting the SMS positions in KVKs to the scientific cadre (ICAR, 2014). I hope a decision on this would be taken soon.
Issues on Technology Assessment
One of the major features of KVK (which really differentiates its functions from the state line departments such as Department of Agriculture, Horticulture, etc) is its mandate on technology assessment and refinement. (But unfortunately many consider KVKs as merely training centres). But whether the KVKs have real capability to assess and refine technologies is an important question? Do they have a concrete mechanism to pass on assessment results to the research system though they report annually to controlling agencies? Every year, KVKs search for new
technologies to be tested for its micro location specificity and many KVKs are constrained in obtaining these technologies for testing and also for demonstration. Invariably ICAR institutes demand KVKs to pay for these technologies. In some cases, for instance, getting good hybrid seeds for assessment and demonstration from public sector is extremely difficult.
Visibility Crisis of KVK
Many talk about the poor visibility of KVKs at the district level and they expect every farmer in the district to know about the KVK. A KVK with 16 staff members cannot do wonders in a district on its own. Until and unless it collaborates with the mainstream extension machinery of the state and organises proper assessment and communication of technologies its effectiveness and visibility will always be questioned.
Every year a KVK is set with a target of 24 On-farm trails, 24 Front Line Demonstrations and 72 trainings by its six experts. To perform these activities each KVK is approximately provided with INR 6-10 lakh. Cost of all critical inputs for trials and demonstrations, cost of fuel, post, telephone, teaching materials, food charges during training and other daily expenses in each KVK have to be met from this meagre operational budget. Keeping in view this limitation, KVKs should avoid the temptation to initiate larger development interventions in the district to show its impact. KVKs should focus on technology assessment and supporting agricultural planning in the district.
As noted in one of the good practice note from KVK shared through AESA web portal (www.aesa- gfras.net) “while the KVK demonstrations could convince several farmers to use a package of scientific practices and learn from their impacts (reduced use of inputs, less pollution, higher profits and enhanced climate resilience),the upscaling of the technology package was possible only through the concerted efforts of the Department of Agriculture, ATMA, Local Self Governments and input agencies”(Muralidharan, 2015). Despite the guidelines to work together, there is lack of partnership between KVK and ATMA (Glendenning, et al 2010; Babu et al, 2013). Exceptions do exist but these are mostly driven by individual interests.
| Box 2: Successful impact of collaboration: KVK-Puducherry
Apparently, farmers in Sorapattu village of Mannadipattu in Puducherry have a lot of information on using integrated pest management (IPM) for protecting their crops rather than using chemical pesticides for the same. The emphasis on IPM in the region is in practice since 1994, in order to bring down the indiscriminate usage of pesticides to contain crop pests and diseases while conserving and protecting natural insects in crop ecosystem. Perunthalaivar Kamaraj Krishi Vigyan Kendra (PKKVK), Puducherry, in co-ordination with the agriculture department is responsible for bringing this tremendous change in the attitude of the farmers towards this method. Pesticide consumption in this region has come down significantly from 163 metric tonnes in 1990-91 to 40.92 tonnes in 2013-2014, resulting in a two-thirds reduction in its consumption. Similarly, the number of pesticides outlets has decreased from 196 in 1990-1991 to 115 in 2013-2014, nearly a 30 percent decrease. http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/an-entire-village-shuns-using-chemicals-for-growing- crops/article6809021.ece. |
Partnership Experience from KVK-Khordha
To enhance the contribution and impacts KVK-Khordha under ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture started an initiative called “People and Partnership”. The initiative helped it in developing strong networks with more than 10 organisations having similar mandates in the district. Partners started seeking help from the KVK in different ways to work in tandem for the development of agriculture in the district and it helped the KVK to increase its reach from 7000 to 14,000 farmers/year. Certain partners provided funds and others provided manpower for larger development (Table 1).
Table 1: People and Partnership at KVK, Khorda-An Analysis
| Partners | Role of KVK | Benefits to KVK | Reach of activities | Provision of
resources |
| State Employment Mission, Government of Odisha | Entrepreneurship development through skill development | KVK entered into entrepreneurship mode in freshwater aquaculture
Strong link with State Department of Fisheries; KVK posses technical resources in local language |
250 Entrepreneurs from three districts in fisheries | Finance |
| Odisha Community Tank Management Project | Joint implementation of Agricultural Livelihood Support services component | Community mobilization through Pani Panchayati. e Water Users Association; Additional manpower to KVK;
Extensive outreach of activities by KVK; Experience in Farmer field school approach; Envisaged farmer to farmer extension model |
Developed operational infrastructure for KVK at two blocks; Strengthened the footing in four blocks;
7556 ha benefitting 6000 farmers in agriculture/horticulture, 2000 in livestock and 500 households in fisheries in the command villages. |
Finance, Manpower |
| Odisha Watershed Mission | Training on off season vegetables; Training on rural livelihoods | Sharing experience to farmers of Nuapada district;
Developed local language training modules on off season vegetable cultivation; Established link with Department of Horticulture with Orissa University of Science and Technology; Trained 140 extension workers of mission on rural livelihoods |
Extended services to farmers of Nuapada district;
Trained 140 watershed Management Teams on rural livelihoods |
Finance, Manpower |
| ATMA-Khordha | Technical Backstopping, varietal trials and Skill Development Training | Massive coverage of paddy land under line transplanting; Concluded varietal trials | 10,000 ha of paddy land under line transplanting; 5921 farmers benefitted over four years | Finance |
KVKs do convergence not only with ATMA but others too. But some organisations only want to sub- contract a few set of activities (e.g.: Training) without engaging in sharing expertise and experiences which may not be ideal. A lot more needs to be done to promote sustainable and mutually rewarding partnerships at the KVK level.
Reporting
While KVKs do a lot of interesting and innovative work, they have been generally poor at reporting, reflecting and sharing their experiences. The current reporting requirements do not appreciate documenting best practices and preparing quality case studies. For instance, Programme Coordinators of KVKs working under ICAR institutes have too many to report and these include, Controlling Officer of the host institute, Director, Extension of the concerned state agricultural university, Zonal Project Directors of the concerned Zone and at times even to the District Magistrate/Collector. Day-to-day reporting has become very cumbersome and apart from this many other works are also entrusted to KVKs. This also needs review. Fortunately we currently have an e- platform like AESA (Agricultural Extension in South Asia) which is keen to publish good practices of KVKs. However, KVKs do need more support and encouragement to document, analyse and promote their innovative experiences.
WAY FORWARD
KVKs are viewed as one of India’s important institutional innovation inspiring the world in the 21st Century (ICAR, 2012).This institutional innovation is also likely to spread to other parts of the world like Africa (Kumar, 2013). If KVKs have to contribute effectively, their roles need to be clarified and their relationships with the host institute needs to be streamlined. KVKs should have the freedom to decide on its functioning without getting involved in the activities of the host institute which are not in line with the mandates set for the former. Powers to implement the approved technical programme of the KVK should be fully delegated to the PC. KVKs being a field oriented organisation need a different type of management which is different from the way a research institute is managed. KVK personnel working in the host institutions have to be brought back and existing vacant posts in KVKs should be filled up urgently. The recommendations of the High Power Committee on Management of KVKs should be implemented without any further delay. Without addressing these types of governance challenges, one shouldn’t be expecting any major impact from the KVKs.
REFERENCES
Babu, S.C., P.K. Joshi, Claire J. Glendenning, Kwadwo Asenso-Okyerec and Rasheed Sulaiman V (2013). The State of Agricultural Extension Reforms in India: Strategic Priorities and Policy Options, Agricultural Economics Research Review, Vol. 26 (No.2) July-December 2013 pp 159-172 (Available at http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/162155/2/2-SC-Babu.pdf)
Chander, M.(2015).The Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) in India: The full potential yet to be unleashed!. AESA Blog. 46, 2015. 10 pp. (Available at http://www.aesa-gfras.net/Resources/file/RS-eds-MC-20- April%202015.pdf)
Glendenning, C.J., Babu, S and K. A. Okyere. (2010). Review of Agricultural Extension in India: Are Farmers’ Information Needs Being Met, IFPRI International Food Policy Research Institute, Discussion Paper 01048, December 2010 (Available at http://cdm15738.contentdm.oclc.org/utils/getfile/collection/p15738coll2/id/7280/filename/7281.pdf)
ICAR (2012).Proceedings of the 7th National Conference on Krishi Vigyan Kendra: Integrating Technologies and Best Practices (Available at http://www.icar.org.in/files/KVK_NC_2013%20Final.pdf)
ICAR (2013).Report of the high power committee on management of Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVKs). Agricultural Extension Division, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi. (Available at http://www.svbpmeerut.ac.in/repos/KVK%20New%20Guidelines.pdf)
Kumar, B S S (2013). Africa to adopt India’s Krishi Vigyan Kendra model, News Report, The Hindu, 26 October 2013, (Available at http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/africa-to-adopt-indias- krishi-vigyan-kendramodel/article5274377.ece)
Muralidharan, P (2015). Promoting Eco-friendly technologies in Rice Production in Kuttanad, Kerala, AESA Blog. Good practices 9: May, 2015: 6pp(Available at http://www.aesa-gfras.net/Resources/file/Murali-GP- 15%20May-2015.pdf)
NAAS (2002). Scientists’ views on Good governance of an Agricultural Research Organisation, Policy Paper: 17, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS), New Delhi: 11pp. (Available at http://naasindia.org/Policy%20Papers/pp17.pdf)
Dr P N Ananth is Programme Coordinator, Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) Khordha, ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (CIFA). He could be contacted at pnananth37@yahoo.com
To strengthen KVKs, the following five suggestions may be taken into consideration. FIELD TRIAL OF COMMUNITY-BASED EXTENSION MODELS KVKs conduct On-Farm Testing (OFT), Frontline Demonstration (FLD) and Farm advisories using Information Communication Technology (ICT). However, modern extension strategies centre around the community. The Community-based Extension Models also need to be tested and refined. Therefore, under the SREP (Strategic Research and Extension Plan), the KVKs may take up Field Trial for Extension Education Models (FTEM). The following models can be tried separately for community-based agriculture, horticulture, livestock and fisheries extension services. Farmers’ Friends Selection, supervision and superannuation criteria of Farmers Friends. Field School: Standardizing the best practices for Field Schools. Agribusiness Center Prospecting Knowledge Partnership for agriclinics and agribusiness centers SHGs Prospecting knowledge-partnership for entrepreneurial activities for SHGs Producer Company Prospecting the possibilities of potential producer-companies in the district. Trickle Down System (TDS) of Aquaculture Extension Pilot project on TDS of aquaculture extension. Co-management Pilot project on co-management of natural resources. Family Farmers Survey: Survey based strategy for family farmers and food security Skill Development of farm labours Designing training programmes for skill development of agricultural labours in emerging technology. Community Radio: Prospecting the possibilities of self – financed community radio for the farmers and fishers. Private extension models This may be tried with input marketing. FARMERS MALL/MARKET TO COMBAT FOOD INFLATION Such markets put the customer in direct contact with the farmers and fishermen. Many farmers may cut out the middlemen and no longer sell to supermarkets. On top of this, many farmers may establish links with restaurants and other food outlets the district. Farmers can then sell at market and deliver to retailers. Those farmers and fishers, who adopt KVK recommendations and are certified by such KVKs may be encouraged to sell through such KVK-FARMERS MALL/MARKETS. This can also be a measure for instilling a sense of belonging in the organizations. ACCREDITATION BY A COMMITTEE EVERY SECOND YEAR: Several KVKs are run on the public-private partnership mode, which is rather unique in the world. As almost 100 Krishi Vigyan Kendras are being run by the Non Government Organizations (NGOs), there is a need to accredit KVKs by a committee every second year. It is in addition to the recommendation that depicts, In the event of unsatisfactory progress of the work of any Krishi Vigyan Kendra, as assessed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research from time-to-time, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research shall reserve its right to terminate/close such Krishi Vigyan Kendra under any host organization by giving six months advance notice for the same. In that event, Indian Council of Agricultural Research shall not have any liability whatever, and the immovable as well as movable properties constructed/acquired with the assistance of Indian Council of Agricultural Research shall remain the property of Indian Council of Agricultural Research… In view of the rapid increase in number of Krishi Vigyan Kendras and their activities, strengthening of Agricultural Extension Division at Indian Council of Agricultural Research Headquarters and Zonal Project Directorates becomes a necessity for effective monitoring and evaluation. Accordingly, required additional manpower has been proposed, besides filling up of the vacant posts in the Agricultural Extension Division and Zonal Project Directorates expeditiously. RECRUITMENT THOUGH ARS AND ALLIED SERVICES: It is observed that many states have not recruited proper staffs who can carry out the functions effectively. A centralized selection through ASRB is recommended to select quality staffs in the KVKs. ARS and Allied Services can be recommended to incorporate the ARS scientists and KVK-SMSs. ACCOMMODATION, ELECTRICITY, TRANSPORT AND OTHER FACILITIES TO THE FAMILIES AND CHILDREN OF THE STAFFS Many KVKs lack proper facilities for their staff and their family. Such KVKs that have performed well may be incentivised by rewarding their family members with better electricity, quarter and tuition fee for their children.
KVK governance has many issues which need to be sorted out. These issues relate both to work ethics, supervision and data management.v
There are series of issues that pertain to KVK Reforms. Some of them have been addressed in our Cabinet Committee Report developed with Shri J N L Srivastava in Chair. Notably, the KVK has to excel in technology testing and validation and in developing technology options for micro agro situations in a district across the sectors. This function, if handled properly would enhance the relevance and credibility of KVK with the line departments. KVK as an instrument of front line extension is appreciable, however, if u load or think it as a solution to all the extension needs of the district…then perhaps the assumption is misplaced because coverage of KVK activities is too limited and it has just PC plus 6 SMSs which are just enough for frontline extension experiments in a limited way. The best thing for KVK is • to provide technology back up to field extension and build the capacities of Farmer Friends, the ATMA functionaries and extension entrepreneurs by way of systemically organized training programmes and • keep innovating the extension approaches, extension models for micro-situations and think up-scaling through pluralistic links down the line including the state government field functionaries and • eventually grow itself as a strong resource centre in given district
The blog by Dr Ananth is timely. Though many issues are discussed, I feel there are still many missing links which need an elaborate analysis. I would like to flag some governance issues which are relevant in the context of KVK functioning. • The notion of governance beyond its delivery and distribution roles is a process that encompasses KVK-society interactions and partnerships. Whether institutional mechanism for partnerships, collaboration and co-operation exists with the KVKs and general guidelines for partnership exists? • Governance quality is an important factor which is yet to be addressed by KVKs. Whether KVKs have any role in ensuring governance quality? • Whether KVKs can really address governance challenges related to sustainable crop diversification? • There are many governance challenges related to technology to be addressed. For instance, home scientists of KVKs may develop a product (nutrient food). Whether KVK can market the product without getting approval from food safety authorities? • Similarly, in relation to quality seed, many governance issues are to be addressed
I have read the well written Blog on the governance concerns of KVKs and I fully agree with them. As I was closely involved in QRT of Zone 8 in the recent past, I can say that the support of the host institute, leadership ability, communication capacity, partnership with development departments, input, credit and insurance agencies, strengths in science and market intelligence are some of the indicators which differentiated performing KVKs from less performing. There is no dearth of diagnosis and suggested remedies, but implementation failures. Hope such cries as this Blog attempts will add pressure to respond.
I fully agree and appreciate the issues raised by Dr.P.N Ananth, PC of KVK, Khordha, Bhubaneswar. KVKs should not be considered as a panacea for all the ills of farming in a district. One should not expect that the KVK with limited staff and budget will be able to deliver the goods in the entire district. But within the existing budgetary and HR constraints, KVKs are expected to perform in fulfilling the mandate. Some of the KVKs are doing extremely well but suffering with poor recording. The KVK personnel need to be trained in systematic assessment of the KVKs. We need to examine, whether the budget for the KVKs is also increasing with increase in the number of KVKs? Is there any mechanism to close down non performing or poor performing KVKs and encourage the better performing KVKs? As pointed out earlier it is necessary to rank them and support the KVKs based on their rankings. There must be administrative and financial freedom to the PCs to chalk out the training programmes as per the need assessment and execute them. Many of these issues could be sorted out provided there is a good coordination between the KVK and the host institute be it NGO, ICAR institute or State Dept. Of Agriculture which rarely happens mostly because of personality conflicts. I feel most of the issues Dr.Ananth raised are quite relevant to the functioning of KVKs and these need to be addressed to sustain the performance of the KVKs
Ananth deserves credit for opening up the Pandoras box to reveal the pains of working in a KVK. His blog refelcts how an innovative concept of Farm Science Centre of the late 1970s, has lost luster over the years. As Dr Ananth rightly said, KVKs are viewed merely training centres and provided with a quantifiable mandate like other field extension functionaries. Good governance is certainly an issue in KVKs but other organisations under NARS also have similar issues. However, the core issue is the ignorance of top research/extension adminsitraors that extension is a capital-intensive activity – financial, human and natural. Technology evaluation, transfer and facilitation in complex socio-economic systems are highly demanding than generating technologies in a more defined and condusive research environment. The KVKs, which are probably the most visible field extension agency among farmers and other stakeholders in districts, truly deserve adequate attention. From my experience of working with KVKs in Odisha and North-Eastern states to implement front-line extension programmes, I would say that the KVK staff are over-loaded and forced to implement programmes of other Institutions without any credit. Though we implemented a defined programme by officially involving KVK SMS in those projects and included them as co-authors in the publications, they couldnt pay adequate attention due to heavy workload.Many SAUs are still continuing with the policy of keeping KVK staff permanantly into the extension system, that results in demotivation and distress. In a NARS syestem, where extension is used as an instrument by the research and education managers to showcase their Customer Relationship Management (CRM) skills, the extension personnel at KVKs and other similar systems will continue to suffer.
Thank you Dr. P N. Ananth sir for very interesting blog highlighting the scenario at field conditions. May be apart from having an increase in the quantity of KVKs, we also need to focus on improving the quality of KVKs with regards to performance and governanceiv
The importance of this blog lies in it coming from a KVK Programme Coordinator- who face the challenges in day to day operations of KVKs. Rightly it addresses the governance issues at KVKs which haven’t received enough attention so far. Rightly said, the performance of KVKs directly depends on the quality of its governance. Congratulations to Dr P N Ananth & AESA, for bringing out this thought provoking blog
Yes, I have just gone through it. Written nicely. Adding to that article, I feel that KVK system is facing multiple directives syndrome. Losing the joy of creativity. We are so busy in following instructions of multiple monitoring and evaluation agencies that we don’t have time to even think. our system is least empathetic with scientists. We all are fragmented and fighting battles on our own. I sincerely feel that a forum for kvk is required urgently.
Our behaviour lacks attributes of leadership and initiative. Though we are very obedient and good followers leading our career without motivation.