CONTENTS Sr. No Name Of The Chapter Page No I Introduction 1 II Methodology 3 Maps of Satara district showing delineation of AES and area of each Taluka III 5 covered under each AES IV Background of the Satara District 9 V On Going Extension and Development Schemes in Satara District 51 Analysis of the Existing Farming Systems (Trends & SWOT Analysis) VI Under Each AES and the Research & Extension Gap Emerged and the 55 Strategies to Bridge the Gaps Analysis of the Farming Situations of Major Crops Or Commodities in Each VII AES and the Research & Extension Gap Emerged and the Strategies to 87 Bridge the Gaps VIII SWOT Analysis 153 Strategies to overcome the Gaps in IPM / INM / Seed Replacement / IX Marketing / PPP / Farm Mechanization, Burning Problems etc; in the 156 District X Human Resources Development Plan for Satara District 158 XI Schedule Activity for Extension Strategies 164 Baseline Data of the District with respect to the Issues / Opportunities and XII 191 Challenges XIII Vision for the Next Five Years 200 XIV Operationalisation of SREP in Satara District 207 I. INTRODUCTION About Satara District.... Satara district is located in the south-western part of Maharashtra state and it is located between 17.5o to 18.11o North Latitudes and 73.33o to 74.54o East Longitudes. The geographical area of Satara district is 10484 sq. kilometer which is 3.4% of that of Maharashtra state. The district is surrounded by Pune district to the north, Sangali district to the South, Ratnagiri district to the west, Raigad district to the north-west & Solapur district to the east. The district head quarter of Satara is well connected with the state capital Mumbai which is 260 km away. Satara is also well connected with major towns in the surrounding districts by road. The National Highway NH- 4 passes through the district. A railway network is also available as Pune-Satara- Kolhapur railway line. The climate of Satara district in general is moderate with temperature during summer months reaching a maximum of 42 oc. and dropping down to 7 oc. However the extremity in maximum and minimum temperature prevails for smaller periods during the respective season. Satara district is situated in the river basins of the Bhima and Krishna. The agro-climatic scenario of Satara district reveals a variety of landscapes influenced by relief, climate and vegetation. The variation in relief ranges from the pinnacles and high plateaus of main Sahyadry ranges having height over 4500 feet above mean sea level to subdued basin of the Nira river in Phaltan tahsil with the average height of about 1700 feet above mean sea level. River systems and Dams – There are two main river basins in the district, the Bhima basin covering 30 % of Satara district in north eastern part and the Krishna basin over the remaining part. Krishna is the main river in the district emerging from east of Mahabaleshwar plateau and after traversing a distance of 160 km flows into Sangali district. Main tributary is Koyna, which also originates near Mahabaleshwar and flows in the north-south direction and ultimately joins with the Krishna. The other tributaries of the Krishna are Kudali, Venna, Urmodi, Tarli, Yerla and Wasna. The river Nira forms the northern boundary of the district, which is the tributary of the Bhima River. There are four major dam projects in the districts Koyna dam on the Koyna River, Dhom dam on the Krishna River and Kanher dam on the Venna River and Urmodi dam on Urmodi river. The geographical features of the district are characterized by the western ghat hilly range to the extreme west to the severe drought–prone area in the extreme east. Between these two situations there are other various geographical situations which fall under sub mountain zone and plane zone. There are basically two cropping season like kharif and rabbi in Satara district. However summer crops are also sown in some pockets where irrigation is available. In Kharif season major crops grown are paddy, soyabean, bajra, groundnut, beans whereas gram, wheat and jawar are the major rabbi crops. In addition to these food grain crops, vegetables, fruits & floriculture crops are also cultivated in Satara district. Various vegetable pockets can be well identified in the district which a grow various crops like brinjal, tomato, potato, pea, chilli, beans and gourds. The cropping pattern of the district is also characterized by sugarcane crop on a considerable acreage. The availability of irrigation water is responsible for area expansion and satisfactory productivity of this cash crop. The cropping pattern of Satara district is also characterized by floricultural crops particularly high-tech flower production in polyhouse. There are about 1520 polyhouses with an area of 58.92 ha in which primarily gerbera flowers are produced, Flowers like marigold, chrysanthemum, roses, tuberose etc are cultivated seasonally in various part of the districts as open field cultivation. 1 Crops like turmeric and ginger are the main key crops of the districts. They are cultivated as cash crops in various parts of the district. Strawberry is also a premium crop of the district which is cultivated mainly in Mahabaleshwar taluka. Strawberry is considered a high-value crop. It is also associated with tourism activity in Satara district. During past few years Strawberry crop has been cultivated in other areas of the district. Farmers in Mahabaleshwar taluka have successfully registered Geographical Indication (GI) for strawberry crop. Because of this entire reason strawberry crop is a significant crop of Satara district. Satara district also grows various fruit crops like pomegranate, banana, sapota, mango etc. These are grown on scattered scale throughout the district. Banana crop has been becoming popular among farmers in irrigated area because of good productivity and consistent market prices since last few years. A Bean crop locally called Waghya Ghewada is cultivated in some small pockets of Satara district. It is also called Rajma. In some parts of the district it has been cultivated since years ago particularly in the low rainfall zone of Koregaon taluka. It is worth mentioning that buyers from North India use to come for purchase of dried beans of this Rajma crop. It is now planned to register Geographical Indication (GI) for this crop. There is proper infrastructure for post-harvest, storage and processing of agro produce in the district. The total capacity of godown space available in the district is 1,54,278 MT of which Maharashtra State Warehousing Corporation (MSWC) contributes up to 73,595 MT. MSWC have also introduced a very good system of online warehouse receipts which has helped farmers to avoid distress sale. There are in all 5 cold storages in the district with total capacity 5,377 MT. These have been a growing trend about increasing a cold storage capacity. Various processing centers are established in the district for the crops like fruits, vegetables food grains and turmeric. There have been a general awareness among farmers regarding processing, post harvest & value addition of agro produce. 2 II. METHODOLOGY Following are the important steps performed during preparation of Strategic Research & Extension Plan for Satara District. 1. District core team training : District core team training was organized by RAMETI Kolhapur from 29th July to 2nd Aug. 2013. In this five-days training, Heads of Agriculture line departments participated from Satara district. This training was mainly focused on concept of extension reforms and operationalization of SREP Scientists from KVK also participated in this training. 2. Identification of Agro Ecological Situation (AES) : Satara district is spread into 4 major Agro-Climatic Zones (ACZS) Viz. mountain, Sub- mountain, Plain & drought-prone. This forms the basis for identifying the five Agro-Ecological Situations (AES) alongwith the factors like altitude, rainfall, irrigation, topography, soil types. Among five AES, one representative village from each AES was selected to carry out PRA that is for collection of necessary data for SREP preparation. 3. Constitution of AES Teams : The multi disciplinary team for each AES was formed by selecting officers from different line departments, NGOs, KVKs etc working in respective blocks. 4. Training of AES Team : This AES team including scientists was well trained at Krushi Vikas Bhavan, Satara during 21 to 24 January 2014. This training programme was conducted by Mr. Arun Kamble and expert about SREP preparation on department of agriculture. Following topics were covered during the training programme. 1) Systematic Approach (ASA) 2) Team Building 3) Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) with actual practice 4) Farming System Approach (FSA) 5) Farming Situation Based Extension. (FSBE) 5. Collection of Field Data: To understand the existing farming system data was collected by the respective AES team by means of PRA technique. Data was collected regarding the farm enterprise, its problems, needs, priorities, factors influencing sustainability, infrastructure support services, service facilities, socio economic status etc in respective villages. AES Team Date of PRA 1) AES 1 13.05.2014 2) AES 2 26.02.2014 3) AES 3 24.01.2014 4) AES 4 05.04.2014 5) AES 5 28.01.2014 3 6. Data Analysis : To find out the relevance of collected data with the scope of SREP and to compare primary data with secondary data for indentifying critical issues, problems, needs, opportunities and threats, the data was checked and analyzed at the district level in the meeting of District Core Team and AES teams. This information was shared with farmers, officers and scientists for suggestions. 7. Developing Strategies : Based on the outcome of data analysis, the issues and problems were taken on priority in the joint meeting of farmers, scientists and district level officers of the line departments. There after suitable strategy were developed to overcome problems and issues and making proper use of opportunities.