Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth (PDKV) is a state public agricultural university located in Akola, in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, India. It is one of the four agricultural universities established in Maharashtra to advance agricultural education, research, and extension services for the farming community of the state. The university is named after Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh, a noted Indian agriculturist, social reformer, and India's first Union Minister of Agriculture.
| Name | Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | PDKV |
| Type | State public agricultural university |
| Location | Akola, Maharashtra, India |
| Region served | Vidarbha |
| Named after | Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh |
| Focus | Agricultural education, research and extension |
Maharashtra reorganised its agricultural higher education system by establishing several regional agricultural universities, each catering to the agro-climatic conditions of a specific zone of the state. PDKV was set up to serve the Vidarbha region, which has distinct soil, cropping, and rainfall patterns compared to western and central Maharashtra. The university was named in honour of Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh, who was deeply associated with rural and agricultural development and with educational institutions in the Amravati–Akola belt.
As a state agricultural university (SAU), PDKV operates under the dual coordination of the Government of Maharashtra and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). Its mandate covers three principal functions:
The university administers a network of constituent colleges, research stations, and KVKs spread across the districts of Vidarbha.
Vidarbha has historically faced agrarian distress, particularly in cotton- and soybean-growing districts. PDKV plays a central role in developing crop varieties, agronomic practices, and rural advisories tailored to the region's rainfed conditions. Its work in cotton, pulses, oilseeds, sorghum, and citrus (notably the Nagpur orange and related horticultural crops) contributes to both research output and on-farm productivity in central India.