Vivekananda Institute of Biotechnology (VIB) is in Sunderbans – a fragile natural resource base. There are approximately 5.4 lakh households in this region – about 45 % of them belong to SC / ST. Majority of the people (85%) depend on agriculture and 70% of the total population in this region are without work.

VIB as a Core Support Group has taken steps to generate, modify and to adapt technologies relevant to this region. For this, initially VIB designed a survey format, in collaboration with IIM Kolkata, which helped to understand the available natural resources, level of available human skill and the potentiality of different trades and nature of skills that are in short supply in the market.

Based on this the technology areas VIB has chosen for working includes Biofertilizer Technology (includes Soil Testing and Fertilizer Recommendation, Production and Application of Microbial inoculants, AMF and Vermitechnology), Horticultural Technology (includes Plant Tissue Culture, Nursery Management, Apiculture, Seed Production, Mushroom and Biodiversity Documentation) , Plant Protection Programme (Biocontrol agents and Botanical Pesticides especially Neem), Aquatic Biotech, Rural Energy Programme and Rural Micro entrepreneurship Development Programme. Under each technology area, the required research (basic / action) work is carried out along with designing of multi skill training programme for the rural youth. The training of the rural youth is based on competency based curricula, which is at par with the international standards. The training is followed by the handholding / incubation of the trained youth – the potential entrepreneur till he / she is able to stand on his / her own. The trained rural youth called the Sampad Karmis start working in their respective target area for the technology delivery to the rural people especially farmers. They select a group of progressive farmers in their target area, who act as the Master Farmers. These Master Farmers are trained by the Sampad Karmis, with the help of resource persons of VIB. Each Master Farmer in turn work for a group of farmers and thus the technology finally reaches the grass root through a network of sampad karmi - master farmer – group of farmers.

VIB’s technologies having been successfully implemented by the farmers in the Coastal Alluvial Zone, have now been replicated by the farmers in the other five agro-climatic zones of West Bengal, namely the Hilly, Terai, Gangetic Alluvial, Vindhya Alluvial and Red Lateritic Zones. Few technologies that could be replicated were soil test based INM and IPM package; organic methods for tea production in homestead tea gardens; water harvesting methods in the hilly regions with low water holding capacity; introducing elite varieties of elephant foot yam with the cultivation package; quality paddy seed production; and protected cultivation technology (training of the master farmers on this technology has been conducted so that the same can be introduced). For sustaining the interventions Farmers’ Clubs having 20 members each have been formed. The interventions have been taken up the group of 20 farmers in each of the 5 zones.

At this point of time 50000 farmers are getting benefit in terms of Support services for agriculture (soil testing, soil health card, required biofertilizer, biopesticide, vermicompost, seed, counseling, problem management) and financial support service through a programme in collaboration with SBI and Govt. of India.