Youth are expected to play a vital role in the much-anticipated transformation of agriculture in India. Realizing the importance of rural youth in agricultural development, especially from the point of view of livelihood security and regular income flow, the ICAR, Govt. of India implemented a project entitled “Attracting and Retaining Youth in Agriculture (ARYA)” during 2015-16. Under this scheme, special efforts are being taken up to attract the rural youth under the age of 35 years in agriculture to provide income-generating opportunities and engage them in agriculture.
ARYA project was initiated at ICAR-KVK, CARD Pathanamthitta in the year 2019 with 4 enterprises -Honey Production, Rambutan and Tomato Nursery, Value Addition in Jackfruit and BV380 Poultry Layer Egg Production. Through skill development training, field visits and various capacity development programmes conducted as part of the project, 34 youths have initiated their enterprises under the various sectors.
The oriented youth groups function as a role model for other youths by demonstrating the potentiality of the agro-based enterprises and also impart training to others.
