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KVK - LAKSHADWEEP
ICAR - CMFRI
ICAR - CMFRI
The KVK has been key to establish and promote the first FPO in Lakshadweep islands named “Kavaratti Island Coconut Farmers Producer Cooperative Society (KICPCoS)”. Towards provision of Agricultural Extension Advisory Services (AES) and supply of inputs, the KVK facilitated/linked the FPO and ICAR-CPCRI, Kasaragod.
KVK organized ten days long animal health camp at with with the objective of providing basic information on animals related to health, nutrition, breeding, feeding, management, control and prevention of diseases, administer preventive inoculation and other measures. The health camp was funded by TSP of ICAR-CMFRI. About 5021 animals (dairy cows, goats, cat, duck, poultry birds and other pet birds) were treated and other supplements were provided benefitting 782 farmers and other stakeholders. The camp was coordinated by Dr. V.M. Abdul Gafoor, SMS of KVK and Dr. P. N. Ananth, Head, KVK.
The KVK worked jointly with ICAR-CPCRI on the establishment of a Coconut Nursery with the FPO in promotion of the Hybrid Var. Ganga Bondam under the Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) funds.
KVK in collaboration with LDCL established incubation centres and incubating the islanders towards managing unit and produce coconut based products. Mr. Sabith a rural youth won the public tender and was selected as the incubator for the centre. He was trained by LDCL to produce quality coconut oil keeping the quality standards. He produced 5000 litres of coconut oil within a span of three months. KVK has been providing him support in different ways mainly on facilitation for his work, and connecting with experts.
During the early 2021-22 KVK was requested by UT administration of Lakshadweep to work together on promoting vegetable cultivation. It has been a practice in the islands that vegetable varieties of any choice were promoted which has resulted in low yield and in several occasions crop losses. Understanding the need KVK, during 2021-22 undertook on farm trails of few vegetable varieties of IIHR, Bangalore for its location specificity in micro farming situation. Based on the results, during 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25 the KVK provided suitable vegetable seeds and fruits planting materials to the Department of Agriculture with the funds allotted from different projects provided by ICAR-ATARI, Bengaluru and also from the TSP funds of ICAR-CMFRI. Under this initiative KVK provided seeds and planting material to 2010 households covering 10 islands.
KVK-Lakshadweep was instrumental in declaring The UT of Lakshadweep as completely as organic by Government of India. During 2021, about 9000 farmers have been registered and declared as organic through a Large Area Certification (LAC). These 9000 farmers across the 10 inhabited islands of Lakshadweep who depends upon coconut and fisheries resources for their livelihood have been benefitted under this certification. The process of registration of these farmers was undertaken jointly by KVK-Lakshadweep, Department of Agriculture under the UT administration of Lakshadweep. This certification is a boon for farmers of Lakshadweep to make their product to have a national and international presence.
KVK in collaboration with ICAR-NBAGR conducted field visits and surveys for documentation and Characterisation of Animal Resources in Lakshadweep Islands. During the field visit a breed of goat was found to be non-descript and with this decision KVK and ICAR-NBAGR agreed to collect data towards registering these breeds. A sample of 260 goats was selected from Kavaratti for the assessment and further processing for the registration. It has been decided that the registration of these breeds will be done by KVK-Lakshadweep.
The pilot project was launched during 2019 – 20 at Kavaratti Island in collaboration with Department of Agriculture, UTLA with three pairs of barn owls transported from Thiruvananthapuram zoo. At present population in Kavarathi has increased to 25 (+) from three pairs and bring notable change in rat population which was successfully translocated from Kerala.This project has created a new hope among the public of Lakshadweep to manage the rodent menace effectively.
The emerging hubs in the country, Lakshadweep has been recently designated as a Seaweed Cluster by the Ministry of Fisheries, Government of India, owing to its ideal lagoon ecosystems and other environmental factors. Since 2020, ICAR-CMFRI, KVK-Lakshadweep and the Department of Fisheries have been working on promoting seaweed culture in the islands. At present, Chetlat Island is being matured to be designated as a model seaweed village and Kadmat island is a centre for establishing a seaweed seed bank, currently holding around 800 kg of viable seed material (2025-26).