Groundnut occupies 3,38,300 ha in Tamil Nadu including 28,000 ha in Ariyalur District but its productivity is less (1.51 t ha-1). To improve the productivity of Groundnut in the District, the Krish Vigyan Kendra (KVK) has implemented series of interventions viz., On-Farm Trials, Front Line Demonstrations, Cluster FLDs, trainings and method demonstrations from 2015-16 to 2019-20. The present study was undertaken to assess the impact of interventions of KVK in yield and income enhancement in groundnut cultivation. The study was conducted with the randomly selected 250 farmers at four blocks of Ariyalur District. The yield was recorded for all the years of the study both in control and demonstration plots. The parameters viz., frequency, mean, percentage, impact in adoption and yield increase were worked out. The adoption rate was the highest for the technologies viz., timely sowing and recommended spacing (96%), spray of crop boosters (86%), seed treatment (84%) and post harvest management (82%). The interventions of KVK had paved the way for increased productivity of Groundnut from 13.4 q ha-1 during 2015-16 to 22.1 q ha-1 during 2019-20 (65 percent increase). The adoption of improved varieties and technologies resulted in an additional income of Rs. 48,550.00 ha-1. By the efforts of KVK and convergence activities of line department the improved practices were adopted in 13,250 ha. An additional cash inflow to District farmers realized was INR 64.33 crores annum-1 and it benefitted 16,400 farmers and thus socio-economic empowerment of Groundnut growers of Ariyalur District of Tamil Nadu, India was improved.
Adoption, Cash inflow, Impact, Production technologies