A Study on Agriwar-Room an Initiative by ICAR-Krishi Vigyan Kendra in Raichur District of Karnataka State: To address agro-based Advisory Services during Covind-19

The Agriwar-room was an initiative taken by the University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur to assist farmers in obtaining information related to farming, ranging from the technical knowledge base to price information for selling the produce in distant markets across the state during the lockdown period of COVID-19 in 2020. The findings reveals that, the agro-based services were widely spread across Six major Districts of kalyan Karnataka region consisting of Raichur, Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Lingsugur, Koppal and Bellary districts which were accounted for 91.47 % to the total received calls (598 calls received) by ICAR-KVK, University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur during the period of 3 months (April to July) in the year 2020. Further, the farmers were provided with necessary information based on their requirements majorly related to crop production, plant protection, marketing information and other services. The findings reveal that, Majority of the calls were received from Raichur district, accounting for 48.49 % followed by Kalaburagi district with 22.91% and Yadgir (8.19%) were the three major district farmers who were benefited largely from the Agriwar room during CoVID-19 period. The study also highlights the importance of information about Agriculture produce marketing facilities which was essential during covid-19 period because many of the farmers don’t know about the information where they have to dispose of the produce in which market so that they can get better prices for their produce during COVID-19 situation due to lack of mobility.