Raitha Samparka Kendra means “Farmer’s Interaction center”. Construction of such Centers is a program of the Department of Agriculture, Government of Karnataka. These Centers are to serve as an information centre for farmers on crops, irrigation, cultivation practices, technologies and markets.
National Institute of Design (NID), the design consultants prepared the building designs. Tor Steel Research Foundation in India (TRFI), the technical consultant prepared the structural designs. District Nirmithi Kendra’s (Building Centers) did the construction. Karnataka Rajya Nirmana Kendra (KARNIK), the State level Nodal organization for the promotion of district Nirmithi Kendras supervised and monitored the works of the District Nirmithi Kendras.
The feature of the buildings is the rooftop design that enables rooftop harvesting of water. The water can be used for secondary purposes and also for primary purposes after boiling/purification treatment. In the project, the harvested water is led to a tank and used in the toilets. The roof is a ‘double roof’ (a thin ribbed slab concrete roof covered by pre-coated metallic Galvanized Iron sheet). The design enables good thermal comfort in the rooms. The building has space for meetings and dissemination of the information, computer facility, storage facility for fertilizers and seeds, and a small lab to carry out the soil and seed testing facilities. The referred photographs are of the RaithaSamparka Kendra in Karkala constructed in the year 2006 by the Udupi Nirmithi Kendra. However the earlier RaithaSamparkaKendras were constructed in the year 2004 in AjjekarandKaup in Udupi District. Thus these centers stand as testimonies to the principals of the “LAB to LAND” concepts of the Nirmithi Kendra.