Impact of Training Programs for Women Farmer Groups under the Farmer FIRST Program

Abstract

ICAR funded Farmer FIRST program (FFP) being implemented in Pathiyoor panchayath of Alappuzha district, Kerala State, India, promoted women empowerment enabling them to be partners of agricultural development. The present study was conducted among 140 women farmers of FFP during 2019-20 to study the impact of training programs using Kirkpatrick training evaluation method. The socio personal profile indicated that majority of the respondents were middle aged and 89 per cent possessed an average land holding size below 0.081 ha (20 cents), 98 per cent of them were educated, average annual income of 70.80 per cent of women respondents were below Rs. 50000, and the major livelihood was derived from wage earning + farming by 55.55 per cent and 15.25 per cent only possessed livestock, and others had small units of poultry, which showed low resource level. The results indicated improvement in income, savings and knowledge on agricultural topics among the participants. The technology adoption also improved after FFP interventions by more than 2 technologies along with skill acquisition. More than 90 per cent of the participants perceived improvement in productivity of crops due to technology adoption and attained diet diversity. The social capital scenario among women farmers indicated the role in promoting technology dissemination and enabling adoption of new varieties based on participatory evaluation. The innovation in social mobilization in land consolidation for farming by the women farmers groups contributed to these impacts and the FFP panchayath was declared as fallow free.