Institutional perspective for doubling fish farmers' income: A case study

Doubling farmers' income (DFI) by 2022 has been set as a target for Agriculture sector of India. Extensive deliberations have been made on application and adoption of technologies/packages as key forces to reach the target. The responsibility is with numerous stakeholders and the specific role of Research and Development (R&D) institutions in doubling farmers' income has not been touched upon. As agriculture and allied sectors like aquaculture is a state subject, greater linkages have to be established by R&D institutions to achieve the target. The present study analysed the role of R&D institution in doubling farmers' income, keeping technology as an effective tool, based on a case study of ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (ICAR-CIFA), Bhubaneswar and Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK)-Khordha in Odisha State, India. The results of the study delineated the ways and means for ICAR-CIFA and KVK, Khordha to achieve the target of doubling farmers' income by developing models with existing proven technology, upscaling proven extension approaches like Farmers Field Schools (FFS) replicated as Aquaculture Field Schools (AFS), best practices to be adopted and rationalising farm innovations.