Extension Training Centre, Manjeswar

Agriculture plays a vital role in the economy of Kasaragod district. Majority of the population of the district depend either directly or indirectly on farming sector for their livelihood. With a changing topography of low land, mid land and high land of Kasaragod, a wide range of crops and cropping patterns exist in the district in tune with the varied agro climatic zones. Among the cultivated plants, coconut dominates all other varieties. Areca nut and cashew come next to coconut in cultivation. Jack fruit, mango tree, banana plantations etc. are other crops cultivated. Paddy, coconut, areca nut, cashew, rubber, pepper, banana and vegetables are the major crops grown in the district. Kasaragod receives the highest amount of rainfall in the State. The annual average rainfall of the district is 3350 mm, a lion’s share of which is received during the South West monsoon period from June to August. However the long dry spell adversely affects the agricultural production in the district.

Located at a height 318.2 ft above mean sea level, Extension Training Centre, Manjeshwar, is the third establishment of Kerala Agricultural University in Kasaragod district and also the northernmost station of the Kerala Agricultural University. The station is situated in an area of 16.04 acres of land divided into three blocks. First started as KVK, at Thimangodu in 1984 in a rented building, this Centre was later shifted to the present location at Sunkadakatte, Vorkady, Manjeshwar in 1996. Later in 2004, the station was made as the sub centre of RARS Pilicode and in 2017, were brought under Directorate of Extension, KAU and named as Extension Training Centre.

The farming community of this region belongs to diverse sections of language, religion and culture. Owing to a distance of around 100 km from the College of Agriculture, Padanakkad, farmers of the region find it difficult to communicate with the faculty there, for their needs. Hence after the College of Agriculture, Padanakkad, this institution serves the needs of farmers in the Kasaragod area the most.

The centre focuses on the overall development of the farming community which belongs to linguistic minority of the state. Even though Kannada and Malayalam are the official language in the region, majority of the population converse in Kannada, Thulu and Malayalam. Training being the major mandate, the station focuses on capacity building of farmers, women, youth and children. The centre has conducted almost 100 trainings since 2017, with major focus on agricultural and allied topics like plant protection, horticulture, agronomic practices, apiculture, mushroom production and animal husbandry. Trainings were also provided in social mandates like entrepreneurship development, nutrition and waste management. Further owing to the topography and scarce transportation facilities, field level demonstrations and agro-advisory services are also conducted for farming communities especially focusing on isolated SC-ST settlements with great effort.

Apart from the mandate of organizing trainings, the station have also started producing different vegetable seeds and seedlings from 2017-18 onwards. In block I and II emphasis is given for vegetable seeds and seedling production. Block III houses an orchard for the cultivation of exotic and minor fruits. Besides the station also houses 30 rare mango varieties, 27 varieties of pepper and 15 varieties of banana along with high value crops like cardamom and Dragon fruit. Numerous beehive boxes are also placed in Block I as part of training in apiculture and promoting pollination of crops. Besides the seeds/seedling production units and orchard, various plantation crops, fruit crops and other ornamentals are also present in these blocks. The details of the same are highlighted below.

Block I
Area: 4.48 acres
Area under cultivation: 2.25 Acres
Major crops: Ridge Gourd, Drumstick, Bush Cowpea, Amaranthus, Brinjal, Tomato, Chilly, Yard Long Bean, Pumpkin, Ash Gourd, Salad Cucumber, Bottle Gourd, Okra, Snake Gourd, Bitter Gourd, Oriental Pickling Melon
Other crops: Mandaram, Jackfruit, Ashoka, Kokum, Papaya, Mango Tree, Gooseberry, Arecanut Palm, Cashew, Guava, Banyan Tree, Custard Apple, Chineese Chaste Tree, Champakam, Coconut Palm

Block II
Area: 3.2 acres
Area under cultivation: 3.15 acre, Poly house: 0.48 acre
Major crops: Bush Cowpea, Amaranthus, Brinjal, Tomato, Chilly, Yard Long Bean, Ridge Gourd, Snake Gourd, Bitter Gourd
Other crops: Mango Tree, Watery Rose Apple, Coconut Palm

Block III
Area: 7.38 acres
Area under cultivation: 4 acres.
Major crops: Lime Cherunaranga, Longan, Guava, Litchi, Giant Bitter Lime, Velvet Apple, Chamba, Pulasan, West Indian Cherry, Mangosteen, Sapota, Bilimbi, Egg Fruit, Star Fruit, Bread Fruit, Malabar Walnut, Surinum Cherry, Lovi Lovi, Malayan Apple, Baraba, Durian, Avocado, Miracle Fruit, Rose Apple, Rambutan Yellow, Rambutan Red Jamun / Njaval, Annona, Karakka , Bear Apple, Tamarind.

Extension Training Centre, Manjeshwar gives due importance to innovative practices in agriculture. This centre is the first in the university and in Kerala, to adapt and install ‘Kheti Rakshak’ a solar powered distress communication machine to protect crops from wild animals and birds including wild boars and peacocks. Various research, state plan projects are also undertaken by the Extension Training Centre, Manjeshwar for the benefit of the farmers and general public of the region. Among these projects, the Establishment of Value addition Unit, Agri-clinic and Veterinary clinic at ETC Manjeshwar is aimed at providing diagnosis based recommendations for the field level problems of the farmers based on the package of practices. Further the continuing project Establishment of a centre for technology transfer, farming culture and Human Resource Development at Kasaragod focus on capacity building of farmers and identification of regional farming practices to underline the cultural heritage of agriculture in Kasaragod.

Infrastructural development activities including a trainee’s hostel and composting unit are underway in the station. The station also envisages to start a mushroom production unit and a value addition centre for augmenting the livelihood security and food security of the community through capacity building programmes. A bio-control lab for the production of microbial formulations at the centre to support the district level mandate of organic farming is also proposed.