Seed village programmes are becoming popular in developing countries due to their potential to supply of affordable seed to farmers in a timely manner. Under the programme, the profitability of seed growing farmers is important as it incentivizes them to grow more seed for distribution of seed to other farmers. This paper tried to analyze the impact of the seed village programme on profitability of seed growing farmers of paddy crop by using Difference-in-Difference approach. The study was conducted during the year 2020 in India. A significant increase in profitability of seed growing farmers compared to non-seed farmers was noticed due to the SVP scheme. It was observed that after the introduction of SVP, there was about 69.01% increase in profits of seed-farmers compared to only 5.63% among non-seed-farmers. Age, education, acreage under seed production and farming experience contributed 71.6% of the total variation in the higher profits through SVP in paddy crop, leaving the rest to extraneous factors. The difference-in-difference regression results showed that, with the introduction of the SVP in India, there was an increase in the profits of seed growing farmers by INR 13,032/acre (186 USD). These results show that most of the seed growing farmers are in favor of the growing seed under SVP and benefited from this programme.

Healthy life starts with healthy diet. Nutritious rich food promotes productivity and performance of the individual throughout their entire lifespan. From past few years knowledge regarding this field is growing rapidly. It was well-known that vegetables and fruits contains high amount of nutrients, and thereby introducing the Nutri-garden concept to the farm families will not only provide them with required quantity of vegetables and fruits but also help them crud malnutrition. This paper describes the introduction of Nutri-garden for household food security in Mahabubnagar District of Telangana. The intervention started with a detailed baseline survey and its assessment in 2015-16 which motivated to design and promote Nutri-garden in the district. Vegetable Seed kits and saplings were distributed to farm women under the YFA-KVK demonstrations. This study examines intervention of Nutri-garden from the year 2017-18 to 2019-20. A representative sample size of 200 households was selected and their change in food consumption (quantity and frequency) was compared with the data of before (2015-16) and after (2020) intervention. Over the period (2017-2020) the vegetables and fruits produced under Nutri-garden was utilized for household consumption. Monthly per capita consumption (g/CU/person) of fruits and vegetables, both quantities consumed, and frequency of consumption was analyzed. Comparison of data taken at two time periods (before and after intervention), showed that there is a significant difference in the consumption pattern before and after the intervention of Nutri-garden with 99% confidence under paired t test. It was also witnessed that with the introduction of Nutri-garden, green leafy vegetable consumption was improved by 92 percent under daily consumption compared to zero consumption marked before intervention (2015-16) of garden. Therefore, it is concluded that, with the introduction of Nutri-garden there is an increased availability of different groups of vegetables that which fulfilled the daily nutritional requirements of farm families of Mahabubnagr district.

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Aims: Aim of the study is to develop a Farmers’ Knowledge test for the rice seed production farmers in order to assess their knowledge in rice seed production. Study Design:  Expost facto research design was adopted. Methodology: Sample: Pretesting was done on 100 rice production farmers in central zone of Telangana state using multistage random sampling procedure with identifying the dimension, collection of items followed by item analysis and checking the reliability and validity for precision and consistency of the results. Test was conducted on October 2019. Results The process of developing and standardizing of knowledge test was started. A Total of 57 statements were framed. Conclusion: 32 statements were finally retained which has practical applicability in ascertaining the knowledge of farmers towards rice seed production. Implications: This standardized test tests the knowledge of rice farmers on rice seed production. This test thereby it facilitates to take the right decisions by farmers, Government officials under rice seed production and policy makers. It can be used extensively by future validating the test.

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