Table 1.

Area, production and productivity of chickpea in Maharashtra

Year 1980-81 1985-86 1990-91 1995-96 2000-01 2005-06 2006-07

Area (lakh ha) 4.18 5.34 6.72 7.17 6.76 10.20 12.83

Production (kg/ha) 1.37 1.76 3.58 3.70 3.51 7.05 10.50

Productivity (lakh tonnes) 335 333 532 524 519 691 819

MPKV is promoting among farmers the concept of utilizing own seeds. Awaremess of this concept has been actively done through demonstrations on farmers fields, supplemented with mass media, i.e. newspapers, magazines and radio, television etc. the success of this seed village concept has certainly boosted Universitys efforts in attaining this aim. This innovative approach can be adopted to ensure timely availability of quality seeds.