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The ICAR-National Rice Research Institute (NRRI), Cuttack in Odisha develops varieties and agro-technologies for enhancing and sustaining rice production. The Institute so far has released 133 high-yielding varieties of rice for various ecosystems. Some of the varieties have been very popular among the farmers and even became ruling varieties in some states. However, there are no reports on the area covered by NRRI varieties and its impact on incremental gain in farm income. In the present study, area covered by NRRI varieties in the country during 2017-18 was estimated based on the amount of quality seeds provided to the farmers through various ways: breeder seed indent to the DAC; breeder seed and truthfully-labeled seed supplied by the NRRI farm; participatory seed production by NRRI; seed distributed in various programmes and projects of the Institute; front-line demonstrations and on-farm testing; seed of NRRI varieties supplied by the private entrepreneurs and disseminated from farmers to farmers etc. A validation exercise was conducted to cross-check the estimated areas under NRRI varieties. The analysis showed that currently NRRI varieties cover about 8.0 million ha (Mha) i.e., 18% of rice area of the country. West Bengal has the largest area of 2.26 Mha, followed by Odisha with 2.18 Mha. Total production of rice with NRRI varieties is 27.80 million tons (Mt) with the value of Rs.48,643 crores per annum. Further, incremental production and income with NRRI varieties considering 5% more than the existing popular varieties is estimated to be 1.39 Mt and Rs.2,432 crores per annum, respectively. Over the years, indents of breeder seed (BS) of NRRI varieties have increased considerably indicating growing popularities of NRRI varieties among the farmers in different states.

The KVKs provide multidisciplinary and broad based technological interventions to enable farmers manage their farm in a sustainable and integrated manner. This demands enhanced manpower not only in terms of number but also covering the most important subject matter areas relevant to the district. Personal, communication, motivational and leadership skills are considered important for problem solving and attaining the objective of any organization. This study considered 123 personnel working under the jurisdiction of ATARI, Patna. Semi structured questionnaire (using Google form) seeking qualitative and quantitative data was used as measurement tool. It was found that the respondents were working under the Administrative control of ICAR, SAU of the zone, NGOs and State Government. Majority of the respondents perceived themselves having good to very good personal skills, communication skills and the skills to identify and solve field level problem. The administrative control of KVK, area of specialization and academic qualification were positively significantly correlated with level of knowledge, whereas designation, age, gender and marital status were positively non-significantly correlated, but distance was negatively non-significantly correlated with the level of knowledge. The leadership qualities were significantly positively correlated with distance, administrative control of KVKs, academic qualification, area of specialization, whereas designation, age, gender and marital status were negatively non-significantly correlated. The multiple regression analysis showed that four variables namely administrative control, academic qualification, area of specialization and experience contributed significantly to level of knowledge. The leadership qualities contributed significantly by administrative control, academic qualification and area of specialization.

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The ICAR-National Rice Research Institute (NRRI), Cuttack in Odisha develops varieties and agro-technologies for enhancing and sustaining rice production. The Institute so far has released 133 high-yielding varieties of rice for various ecosystems. Some of the varieties have been very popular among the farmers and even became ruling varieties in some states. However, there are no reports on the area covered by NRRI varieties and its impact on incremental gain in farm income. In the present study, area covered by NRRI varieties in the country during 2017-18 was estimated based on the amount of quality seeds provided to the farmers through various ways: breeder seed indent to the DAC; breeder seed and truthfully-labeled seed supplied by the NRRI farm; participatory seed production by NRRI; seed distributed in various programmes and projects of the Institute; front-line demonstrations and on-farm testing; seed of NRRI varieties supplied by the private entrepreneurs and disseminated from farmers to farmers etc. A validation exercise was conducted to cross-check the estimated areas under NRRI varieties. The analysis showed that currently NRRI varieties cover about 8.0 million ha (Mha) i.e., 18% of rice area of the country. West Bengal has the largest area of 2.26 Mha, followed by Odisha with 2.18 Mha. Total production of rice with NRRI varieties is 27.80 million tons (Mt) with the value of Rs.48,643 crores per annum. Further, incremental production and income with NRRI varieties considering 5% more than the existing popular varieties is estimated to be 1.39 Mt and Rs.2,432 crores per annum, respectively. Over the years, indents of breeder seed (BS) of NRRI varieties have increased considerably indicating growing popularities of NRRI varieties among the farmers in different states.