What is an ATARI and what does it do?

An ATARI — Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute — is an ICAR institute that coordinates, monitors and provides technical back-stopping to a defined zonal cluster of Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs). There are eleven ATARIs across India, restructured in 2015 from the earlier eight Zonal Project Directorates (ZPDs). Each ATARI serves as the zonal headquarters of the KVK system for its states / UTs: it consolidates every KVK's annual action plan, oversees the mandated activities (On-Farm Testing, Frontline Demonstrations, capacity building, seed / planting material production, agro-advisories through Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa), releases the ICAR share of KVK grants, and rolls up physical and financial progress to the Deputy Director General (Agricultural Extension) at ICAR headquarters in New Delhi. ATARIs also anchor zonal delivery of ARYA, NICRA-KVK, Farmer FIRST and Cluster Frontline Demonstrations on pulses and oilseeds.

What are the six KVK mandate activities that ATARIs monitor?

Every KVK is bound by an ICAR mandate that the zonal ATARI monitors: (1) On-Farm Testing (OFT) to assess location-specific performance of technologies from ICAR institutes and SAUs; (2) Frontline Demonstrations (FLDs), including Cluster FLDs on pulses (under NFSM) and oilseeds (under NMEO-Oilseeds); (3) capacity building of practising farmers, rural youth (including ARYA cohorts) and in-service extension personnel; (4) production of quality seed and planting material, bio-fertilisers, bio-agents and livestock genetic material; (5) agro-advisories through the Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa (GKMS) and Kisan Mobile Advisory; and (6) awareness events such as Kisan Melas, technology weeks, Kisan Diwas and special campaigns (Millet Year outreach, natural farming under NMNF, drone demonstrations under Namo Drone Didi, Soil Health Card).

Which national programmes ride on the ATARI–KVK network?

ATARIs anchor zonal delivery of ARYA (Attracting and Retaining Youth in Agriculture), NICRA-KVK (village-level climate-resilient agriculture demonstrations under CRIDA-anchored NICRA), Farmer FIRST (ICAR's Farmer's-First-approach programme), Cluster Frontline Demonstrations on pulses and oilseeds, and Nutri-Smart Village / Nutri-Sensitive Agricultural Resources and Innovations. ATARIs also coordinate KVK integration into the district ATMA Strategic Research and Extension Plans (SREPs) under SMAE / Krishonnati Yojana, and support the SAMETI network anchored by MANAGE. Physical and financial reports flow monthly and quarterly from KVK to ATARI to the DDG (Agricultural Extension); farmer-facing outputs appear on the KVK Portal, KVK websites and via WhatsApp / SMS, Kisan Melas and radio / TV outreach.

How does one contact an ATARI or a KVK?

The eleven ATARIs and every KVK are listed on the ICAR KVK Portal at kvk.icar.gov.in, with addresses, phones and websites for ATARI Directors and the Senior Scientists and Heads of each KVK. For most farmers the entry point is the nearest district KVK — the KVK will loop in its ATARI for cohort programmes such as ARYA, NICRA-KVK or Farmer FIRST. State-level extension officers, ATMA project directors and DAESI Nodal Training Institute leads coordinate through the ATARI for zone-level programme calendars and monitoring reports.

ATARI — ICAR Agricultural Technology Application Research Institutes: The Eleven Zonal Coordinators of India's 731+ Krishi Vigyan Kendra Network

The Agricultural Technology Application Research Institutes (ATARIs) are the eleven zonal ICAR institutes that coordinate, monitor and provide technical back-stopping to India's network of 731+ Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs). Restructured in 2015 from the earlier eight Zonal Project Directorates (ZPDs), the ATARIs sit under the Deputy Director General (Agricultural Extension) at ICAR headquarters in New Delhi and function as the zonal spine of the country's farm-extension architecture. Each ATARI approves and monitors every KVK's annual action plan in its jurisdiction, releases the ICAR share of KVK grants, and rolls up performance on the six KVK mandate activities into national dashboards. ATARIs also anchor the zonal delivery of national programmes that ride on the KVK network, including ARYA, NICRA-KVK, Farmer FIRST, Cluster Frontline Demonstrations on pulses (NFSM) and oilseeds (NMEO-Oilseeds) and Namo Drone Didi demonstrations. For the wider farmer-welfare portfolio see India government schemes for farmers and the KVK directory at /krishi-vigyan-kendras.

Origin, legal form and reporting line

The KVK system was launched by ICAR in 1974 as district-level farm-science centres to bridge lab-to-land technology transfer. As the network grew, ICAR established eight Zonal Project Directorates (ZPDs) to coordinate KVKs by zone. In 2015 the ZPDs were reorganised and upgraded to ATARIs, taking on an expanded mandate combining coordination of the KVK network with applied extension research, zonal extension methodology development and delivery of ICAR flagship extension programmes. All ATARIs report to the Deputy Director General (Agricultural Extension) at ICAR headquarters, which in turn sits under the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) of the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare.

The eleven ATARIs and their zonal jurisdictions

There are eleven ATARIs. Headquarter cities publicly cited on the ICAR portal include Ludhiana, Jodhpur, Kanpur, Kolkata, Umiam (Meghalaya), Guwahati, Patna, Jabalpur, Pune, Hyderabad and Bengaluru. Zonal boundaries are periodically re-aligned as districts and KVKs grow; the authoritative live jurisdiction map is on the ICAR KVK Portal at kvk.icar.gov.in, which lists every ATARI Director, the states / UTs assigned to the zone, and every KVK with host organisation, address, contact and website. Each ATARI is led by a Director supported by Principal Scientists, Programme Coordinators and administrative and finance officers.

KVK host organisations and the role of the ATARI

Every KVK has a host organisation — an ICAR institute, a State Agricultural University (SAU) or agriculture / veterinary / horticultural / fisheries university, a State Government department, a deemed university, or an NGO — but is funded and coordinated by ICAR. The ATARI is the ICAR-side coordinator: it approves each KVK's annual action plan, releases the ICAR grant (salaries, revenue, capital), monitors mandated activities and consolidates zonal performance. The host organisation is the administrative employer for the KVK team — typically a Senior Scientist and Head (SS&H), seven Subject Matter Specialists (SMS) covering crop production, plant protection, horticulture, animal science, home science, agricultural engineering and agricultural extension, plus a farm manager, computer programmer, accountant and support staff — and provides land, offices and instructional farms.

The six mandate activities the ATARI monitors

On-Farm Testing (OFT) — evaluating location-specific performance of ICAR / SAU technologies on farmers' fields before scale-up.
Frontline Demonstrations (FLDs), including Cluster FLDs on pulses and oilseeds, to establish production potential of released varieties at scale.
Capacity building of practising farmers, rural youth (ARYA cohorts) and in-service extension staff from the state department, ATMA, banks and FPOs.
Quality seed and planting material production, plus bio-fertilisers, bio-agents, mother plants and livestock genetic material for supply to farmers.
Agro-advisory services — Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa (GKMS) district-level agro-met advisories and Kisan Mobile Advisory.
Awareness and outreach — Kisan Melas, technology weeks, Kisan Diwas, exposure visits, and special campaigns (Millet Year outreach, NMNF, Namo Drone Didi, Soil Health Card).

Programmes delivered through the ATARI–KVK network

ARYA: ICAR's KVK-anchored rural-youth agripreneur cohort programme, coordinated ATARI-zone wise.
NICRA-KVK: KVK-level climate-resilient agriculture demonstrations under CRIDA-anchored NICRA, with each selected KVK adopting a village for adaptation interventions.
Farmer FIRST: ICAR's Farmer's First-approach programme running farmer-participatory, whole-farm interventions.
Cluster Frontline Demonstrations on pulses (NFSM) and oilseeds (NMEO-Oilseeds) — a major slab of KVK budget seeds varietal replacement and package-of-practice adoption.
Nutri-Smart Village / NSARI: household nutritional diversification, back-yard poultry and kitchen gardens under KVK supervision.
Convergence with ATMA and SAMETI: ATARIs coordinate KVK integration into district ATMA Strategic Research and Extension Plans (SREPs) under SMAE / Krishonnati Yojana, and support the SAMETI network anchored by MANAGE.
Plant health training partner: ATARIs plug KVK plant-protection work into the IPM curriculum, Farmer Field School methodology and Central IPM Centre (CIPMC) advisories anchored by NIPHM at Rajendranagar, Hyderabad.

ATARI coordination with IARI and the Pusa variety pipeline

A material share of the seed, package-of-practice and pest-and-disease material that ATARIs push through their KVK networks originates at IARI — the ICAR–Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa Campus, New Delhi. Every ATARI plugs IARI-notified wheat cultivars (Kalyansona, Sonalika, HD-2967, HD-3086, HD-3226) and the Pusa Basmati rice series (Pusa Basmati 1, 1121, 1509, 1401, 1637, 1728) into Cluster Frontline Demonstrations and On-Farm Testing across its zone, and integrates ICAR-NCIPM IPM packages (the NCIPM is co-located on the IARI campus) into KVK plant-protection calendars. ATARIs also nominate zonal KVK Senior Scientists and Subject Matter Specialists to IARI-hosted short-courses and to the annual Pusa Krishi Vigyan Melaat the Pusa Campus — one of India's largest farmer-scientist interfaces — for exposure to newly-released varieties, Pusa Decomposer for paddy-residue management and protected-cultivation demonstrations.

Reporting and information flow

Physical and financial progress from every KVK flows monthly and quarterly to the zonal ATARI, which consolidates and forwards to the DDG (Agricultural Extension) at ICAR. The dashboards feed the ICAR Annual Report and periodic DA&FW policy reviews. Farmer-facing outputs from the same pipeline appear on the KVK Portal — district-wise KVK contacts, weekly agro-advisories, success stories, event calendars and technology showcases — and through KVK websites, WhatsApp / SMS advisories, Kisan Melas and radio / TV.

How to engage with an ATARI or KVK

For most farmers, the entry point is the nearest district KVK, not the ATARI. The KVK will loop in its zonal ATARI for cohort programmes (ARYA, NICRA-KVK, Farmer FIRST) and for Cluster Frontline Demonstrations. State extension officers, ATMA Project Directors and MANAGE / SAMETI faculty engage with the ATARI Director directly for zone-level calendars, master-trainer orientation and joint monitoring. To locate the ATARI for a given state or the nearest KVK, use the KVK Portal at kvk.icar.gov.in or AgriBot's searchable KVK directory.

KVK Directory

Searchable district-wise directory of India's 731+ Krishi Vigyan Kendras — coordinated zone-wise by the eleven ATARIs.

ARYA

ICAR's KVK-anchored rural-youth agripreneur programme — approved and monitored zone-wise by the ATARIs.

NICRA

CRIDA-anchored National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture — KVK-level village demonstrations coordinated by the ATARI zone.

MANAGE

National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management — anchors SAMETI curricula that ATARIs coordinate into KVK training calendars.

ATMA

District-level extension delivery under SMAE / Krishonnati Yojana — converges with KVKs in the SREP coordinated by the ATARI.

GKMS

Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa district-level agro-met advisory — one of the six KVK mandate activities monitored by the ATARI.

References

kvk.icar.gov.in — ICAR KVK Portal: zone-wise ATARI directory, KVK-wise contacts, weekly agro-advisories and success stories.
icar.org.in — Indian Council of Agricultural Research portal: DDG (Agricultural Extension) division, ATARI Directors and annual reports.
agriwelfare.gov.in — Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (DA&FW / DARE), the parent ministry.
Press Information Bureau (PIB) — releases on the ATARI restructuring from ZPDs, KVK sanctions and ARYA / NICRA-KVK / CFLD reviews.

Frequently asked questions

What is an ATARI and what does it do?: An ATARI — Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute — is an ICAR institute that coordinates, monitors and provides technical back-stopping to a defined zonal cluster of Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs). There are eleven ATARIs across India, restructured in 2015 from the earlier eight Zonal Project Directorates (ZPDs). Each ATARI serves as the zonal headquarters of the KVK system for its states / UTs: it consolidates every KVK's annual action plan, oversees the mandated activities (On-Farm Testing, Frontline Demonstrations, capacity building, seed / planting material production, agro-advisories through Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa), releases the ICAR share of KVK grants, and rolls up physical and financial progress to the Deputy Director General (Agricultural Extension) at ICAR headquarters in New Delhi. ATARIs also anchor zonal delivery of ARYA, NICRA-KVK, Farmer FIRST and Cluster Frontline Demonstrations on pulses and oilseeds.
How many ATARIs are there and where are they headquartered?: There are eleven ATARIs, restructured in 2015 from the earlier eight ZPDs. Headquarter cities publicly cited on the ICAR portal include Ludhiana, Jodhpur, Kanpur, Kolkata, Umiam (Meghalaya), Guwahati, Patna, Jabalpur, Pune, Hyderabad and Bengaluru. Each ATARI is led by a Director, reports to the Deputy Director General (Agricultural Extension) at ICAR, and coordinates every KVK in its zone regardless of host organisation. Zonal jurisdictions are published on kvk.icar.gov.in — ICAR periodically re-aligns states across zones as KVK numbers grow, so aspirants should confirm the current zone for their state on the portal.
How do ATARIs relate to KVKs and their host organisations?: A KVK is hosted by one of five categories — a State Agricultural University or agriculture / veterinary / horticultural / fisheries university, an ICAR institute, a State Government department, a deemed university, or an NGO — but funded and coordinated by ICAR. The ATARI is the ICAR-side coordinator: it approves each KVK's annual action plan, releases the ICAR grant (covering salaries, revenue and capital), monitors mandated activities and consolidates zonal performance. The host organisation is the administrative employer for the KVK team — typically a Senior Scientist and Head, seven Subject Matter Specialists (crop production, plant protection, horticulture, animal science, home science, agricultural engineering, agricultural extension), a farm manager, a computer programmer, an accountant and support staff — and provides land, offices and instructional farms.
What are the six KVK mandate activities that ATARIs monitor?: Every KVK is bound by an ICAR mandate that the zonal ATARI monitors: (1) On-Farm Testing (OFT) to assess location-specific performance of technologies from ICAR institutes and SAUs; (2) Frontline Demonstrations (FLDs), including Cluster FLDs on pulses (under NFSM) and oilseeds (under NMEO-Oilseeds); (3) capacity building of practising farmers, rural youth (including ARYA cohorts) and in-service extension personnel; (4) production of quality seed and planting material, bio-fertilisers, bio-agents and livestock genetic material; (5) agro-advisories through the Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa (GKMS) and Kisan Mobile Advisory; and (6) awareness events such as Kisan Melas, technology weeks, Kisan Diwas and special campaigns (Millet Year outreach, natural farming under NMNF, drone demonstrations under Namo Drone Didi, Soil Health Card).
Which national programmes ride on the ATARI–KVK network?: ATARIs anchor zonal delivery of ARYA (Attracting and Retaining Youth in Agriculture), NICRA-KVK (village-level climate-resilient agriculture demonstrations under CRIDA-anchored NICRA), Farmer FIRST (ICAR's Farmer's-First-approach programme), Cluster Frontline Demonstrations on pulses and oilseeds, and Nutri-Smart Village / Nutri-Sensitive Agricultural Resources and Innovations. ATARIs also coordinate KVK integration into the district ATMA Strategic Research and Extension Plans (SREPs) under SMAE / Krishonnati Yojana, and support the SAMETI network anchored by MANAGE. Physical and financial reports flow monthly and quarterly from KVK to ATARI to the DDG (Agricultural Extension); farmer-facing outputs appear on the KVK Portal, KVK websites and via WhatsApp / SMS, Kisan Melas and radio / TV outreach.
How does one contact an ATARI or a KVK?: The eleven ATARIs and every KVK are listed on the ICAR KVK Portal at kvk.icar.gov.in, with addresses, phones and websites for ATARI Directors and the Senior Scientists and Heads of each KVK. For most farmers the entry point is the nearest district KVK — the KVK will loop in its ATARI for cohort programmes such as ARYA, NICRA-KVK or Farmer FIRST. State-level extension officers, ATMA project directors and DAESI Nodal Training Institute leads coordinate through the ATARI for zone-level programme calendars and monitoring reports.

The eleven-ATARI structure, the 2015 restructuring from eight ZPDs, the six KVK mandate activities and the KVK Portal at kvk.icar.gov.in above draw on publicly available material on the ICAR KVK Portal, the ICAR corporate portal, DA&FW / DARE releases and PIB. Zonal jurisdictions and KVK counts are periodically revised — confirm the current zone for your state on the KVK Portal before applying to a cohort programme.