The scale development process is widely accepted and used as a quantitative tool to measure constructs in behavioural research. In the present paper, the objective was to develop core competency scale to measure the Knowledge, Attitude, Skills and other attributes of the extension field functionaries working under Land Resource Inventory based watersheds. A deductive scale development approach is adopted for construction of scale. Elaborative steps were followed to develop competency scale that should be parsimonious. In the present scale experts identified six major core competency domain areas like Planning, Communication, Technical, Program implementation, Professional and Information Technology competencies needed by extension field functionaries for effective execution of watershed activities. After judgment and content validity of the instrument, 38 items were selected for final scale and reliability was checked using Cronbach's alpha. The final scale is used to measure the competency gaps existing among extension field functionaries working in Land Resource Inventory based watersheds.

This study ascertained the impact of water harvesting structures-farm ponds constructed under Krishi Bhagya Scheme in Northern dry zone of Karnataka during 2019 to 2021. Farmers with and without farm ponds were selected through multi-stage random sampling technique with a total sample size of 320 farmers for data collection. The impact of farm ponds on cropping pattern and crop productivity was visible due to supplementary life saving irrigation. The change in income due to farm ponds ranged from 13 to 97 per cent and net returns realized by farmers with ponds was higher than the farmers without ponds due to increased crop yield. The employment generation per farm increased for beneficiary farmers as compared to control. However, problems of sedimentation, poor design of farm ponds (absence of silt trap and proper inlet and outlet), poor site selection and lack of awareness were the major constraints experienced by farmers for long term sustainability of farm ponds.