Establishment of Research Project
The Agricultural Research Station, Igatpuri was established in June ,1941 for research on Paddy crop under the control of Department of Agriculture. The Cattle Breeding Farm (CBF)
started functioning from 1946 with an object to maintain & breed pure Dangi
bull suitable for high rainfall & hilly tract. During the year 1985 the existing Agril Research Station & Cattle Breeding Farm was
strengthened under the National Agricultural Research Project- Phase I (NARP-I) programme to fill up the gap in the research & infrastructure facilities.
The All India Co-ordinated Research Project on Niger (ICAR) started functioning at ZRS, Igatpuri from 1992 for the research in the tribal areas of the Nashik & Ahmednagar districts. The All India Co-ordinated Research Project on cropping system
research with its components of Experiments on Cultivators Field (ECF) started from June 1997 with its head quarter at Igatpuri.The additional activity of self-employment courses have also been started regularly from January 1998 under self-employment training program of Govt. of Maharashtra.
Zonal Jurisdiction
The jurisdiction of ZRS, Igatpuri comprises of Western Ghat Zone of Maharastra, which is a narrow strip along the crest of Sahyadri
ranges . The zone covers six tahsils of the four districts of the zone.
- Igatpuri tahsil of the Nashik
- Vadgoan Maval of Pune
- Mahabaleshwar of Satara
- Radhanagari, Chandagadh and Ganganbawada of Kolhapur district.
- Agricultural Research Station
- To evolve high yielding, non lodging, non shattering, early, midlate, late, fine grained and fertilizer responsive varieties of paddy
- To improve the tall, scented & non scented local varieties of Nasik and Ahmednagar districts.
- Seed multiplication of improved varieties of paddy.
- Cattle Breeding Farm
- To study the Dangi breed and define its characters
- To produce the pedigree bulls/bull, calves for distribution in rural areas for upgrading local livestocks.
- To undertake trials of feeds and fodder etc. on Dangi animals.
- National Agricultural Research Project (Phase I and II)
- During the year 1985 the Agril. Research Igatpuri was strengthened under NARP-I program to fill up the gaps in research and infrastructure facilities. This research station was then designated as the Zonal Research Station (ZRS). During 1989, the NARP-II program was started to strengthen the ZRS Igatpuri, concentrating on zonal concept and location specific research with multi disciplinary approach.
- Experiments on Cultivators Field (ECF)
- Dignostic/farmers field survey on area specific cropping systems/farming systems for
identification of production constraints.
- Increasing cropping intensity according to needs of farmers through introduction of
new crops and its cultivation.
- All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) on Niger
- Collection, maintenance & evaluation of germplasm.
- Multilocation testing of promising Niger entries.
- Production of nucleus and breeder seeds of IGP-76
- Standardization of production technology for Niger.
- Self-Employment Training Program
- The regular training program of four courses was started from January 1998 inorder to provide technical guidance unemployed youths of local area to start their own enterprenuership.