Participatory Rural Appraisal techniques in Mallapur, Adopted village, College of Agriculture, Rajendranagar on 19.08.2023

As a part of Village Adoption Programme, staff and students (B.Sc.(Hons.) Ag.-30 No.) were involved in outdoor activity in Adopted village Mallapur. The activity involved PRA techniques such as social map, resource map, time line, time trend, venn diagram, seasonal calendar, preference ranking and matrix ranking. Students actively participated and have drawn diagrams depicting the above aspects. Details of the techniques are given below.

PRA technique	Highlighted point
Social map	Revealed the Layout of the village i.e. houses, roads, village institutions etc.
Resource map	This map indicated the natural resources of the village. Black soils, red soils, canal, railway line and uplands avilable in the village.
Time line	Indicated the major events or phenomenon occurred in a village in a chronological order. 1952-School, 1980-Electricity, 1983- Gram Panchayat, Bhagyalaxmi (Cotton), contract farming, 1990 – overhead tank, 2003 - pure water tank, 2019 – roads which were started in the village.
Time trend	Showed the quantitative changes in different aspects of Agriculture. Majority of the farmers are cultivating Cotton crop in village, so this technique was conducted to know the change in Cotton yields between 2013 to 2022. Highest yield was recorded in 2017 and lowest yield was observed in 2016 as per this technique.
Venn diagram	Indicated the relationship between village people and the key institutions. The institutions nearer to village are gram panchayat, school, Anganwadi center, temple, hospital, post office and bank According to this diagram village people are getting more services from Gram panchayat and less from post office.
Seasonal calendar	Calendar indicated the  monthwise activities in agriculture. This technique showed that farmers regularly received  rainfall during June to September, while pest and disease incidence was observed in July and August etc.
Preference ranking	Technique was used for knowing the vague prioritization of problems of farmers. Students and villagers listed out the problems faced by the village people. According to the preference of village people, the health related facilities, transport and labour availability are the major problems in the village.
Matrix ranking	It means grading things according to their quality or achievements. This technique was conducted to know the crop which is more suitable to this village. The technique indicated that, Cotton is a suitable crop for this village.

Villagers included were farmers, women and children. Students explained the PRA techniques and villagers were impressed by this. Voice of the farmers was recorded. Villagers and students were in agreement with each other on the socio economic conditions, crops grown, yield output, resources and facilities available. The programme was a grand success.Apart from conducting PRA, fields were inspected. Paddy, Maize and Cotton crops were inspected. Satisfactorily growth has been noticed. Farmers appreciated the efforts of University, staff and students.The PRA techniques were conducted under the guidance of VAP Chairman and the Associate Dean Dr.C.Narendra Reddy, Convenor Dr.T.Ramesh, Sr.Professor and Head, Crop Physiology, Adopted village team members Dr.K.Aruna (Extensionist), Dr.I.Shakuntala Devi (Economist) and students, College of Agriculture, Rajendrangar and farmers of Mallapur village.