Monitoring visit of ZMC of TDC-NICRA to KVK, Chittoor (RASS) was undertaken during 09-10, September to review the activities of the KVK under NICRA. The KVK has been implementing technology demonstrations under NICRA since 2012 under crop production, NRM and livestock modules besides undertaking institutional interventions viz., Custom Hiring Centre (CHC), seed bank and fodder bank through Village Climate Risk Management Committee (VCRMC). The committee chaired by Dr. N.Sudhakar , Former Director, ICARATARI, Hyderabad initially visited the KVK at Karakambadi and reviewed the activities in the instructional farm of the KVK. The Head of the KVK , Dr.D.Srinivasulu made a presentation on the achievements of the KVK under NICRA since inception. Suggestions were given by the committee on quantifying the impact of NRM interventions, saturating successful interventions in the NICRA villages and upscaling them to the adjoining villages.

The committee visited the two NICRA villages of the KVK (Chittecharla and Deendarlapalli) on the 10th September and reviewed various interventions implemented under NRM, crop production and livestock modules. A meeting was arranged to interact with the VCRMC members who were asked to give their feed back on the benefits accrued through the project and expectations for the future. The committee suggested to implement contingency plans during late onset of the monsoon, facilitate seed production of drought tolerant varieties by farmers of the village, recharge bore wells through convergence and encourage value addition to tomato during periods when prices fall. The other members of the committee are Dr. K.Srinivas , Principal Scientist, ICAR-CRIDA, Dr. K.Ramesh, Principal Scientist, ICARIIOR and Dr. J.V.Prasad, Principal Scientist, ICAR-ATARI, Hyderabad (member secretary). The Head of the KVK, Dr.S.Srinivasulu, Mr.P.S.Sudhakar, SMS (Horticulture), Dr, V.Divya, SMS (Agronomy) and Mr. Anand Raj, SRF also participated in the monitoring visit.