New Extension Approaches for Farmer’s Participatory Seed Production Activity in Onion Variety Arka Kalyan for Self-reliance and Doubling the Farmer’s Income in Chitradurga District of Karnataka, India

Abstract

Onion [Allium cepa L.] is one of the most important commercial vegetable crops of Chitradurga district. It is mainly grown by small and marginal farmers. It is mainly grown for commercial bulb production during Kharif. Very less number of farmers goes for seed production during Rabi season with local varieties. This new extension approaches may help to farmers for technical interventions on seed production and self-reliance for quality seeds in district. The ICAR-KVK Chitradurga planned to take up quality seed production through participatory seed production in onion variety Arka Kalyan from 2016-17 to 2018- 19. Total 80 farmers by covering area 45 ha were taken up seed production activities and produced 264 q of quality seeds with worth of Rs. 39, 60, 000/-. The spread of Arka Kalyan in the district 3,017 ha that means 10.6% of total district area under onion. Then the technology is compared with commercial seed production with commercial bulb productions as results shown that the seed production has doubled net returns 7, 10,000 (Rs./ha) as with 2,05,000 (Rs./ha) of an farmer. The cost benefit ratio was 5.3 (seed production/ha) as compare to 3.5 (bulb production/ha). The production of onion gave higher net returns compared to commercial bulb production. The farmers of Chitradurga district for self-reliant of quality seeds and timely availability at their local region by reducing the risk to purchase of seeds from Maharashtra state and also their income was doubled through involving seed production activity from per unit area.