Field Day on Resource conservation for climate resilient agriculture held at ICAR complex, Umiam.
A farmers’ “Field Day” was organized on Resource conservation options for rabi crops in the hills for climate resilient agriculture by the ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region Umaim, Meghalaya under National Initiative for Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) project at water management and lowland agronomy field.
The occasion was graced by the Director of the institute Dr. S. V. Ngachan. The guest of honor for the occasion was Dr Srinivas Murty, Professor and Head, Department of Soil Science, University of Agricultural Sciences Bengaluru. The “Field Day” was attended by 250 participants including 200 farmers from different parts of Meghalaya. Dr. N S Azad Thakur, Head, NRM division and Dr. D.J. Rajkhowa, Principal Investigator (P.I) NICRA along with many other scientists and technical staffs attended the programme.
The welcome address was delivered by Dr. D.J. Rajkhowa who stressed on the need and importance of water conservation and its efficient management for enhanced crop production and improvement of livelihood of the farmers in NEH region.
Addressing the inaugural session, the Director of the institute Dr. S. V. Ngachan said that the institute has a “holistic approach towards farming” and the farmers should practice the diversified tradition of agriculture. He further added that “we should grow more crops and our mindset and approach towards agriculture should change, we should not only grow rice but we must also use our resources well to grow cash crops. Since growing of two crops is not impossible with the present technology, he urged the farmers to come forward as the institute is there to extend help to them. They should be enthusiastic to come forward and adopt the new technologies.
The chief guest for the occasion Dr Srinivas Murty said that there is a tremendous improvement in the present technology and the institute should follow the policy of “each one teach one”. He also stated that technology should not only be adopted but taken forward for improved livelihood of the region. He urged the farmers to practice sustainable agriculture and appreciated the efforts taken by the institute towards the development of the people. He ended with a positive note stating that change will be slow but it should be consistent and the scientific community of the institute should keep up the good work in the region.
Dr Anup Das, Senior Scientist, from the Crop Production Division of the institute gave a practical demonstration on zero tillage practices of agriculture for cultivation of pulses after rice cultivation. The demonstration on tools and implementations of furrow opener, cono-weeder etc was carried out in the fieldto enhance the capacity of the farmers. The motive of the programme was to imbibe scientific knowledge among the farmers and the practical demonstration gave hands on training to the farmers. The application of manure and sowing methods were also demonstrated to the farmers. The emphasis was laid more on the growing of rabi crops like pea, lentil, toria etc with scientific package and practices.
Various farming system methods like raised and sunken beds, land configuration organic farming etc, were demonstrated by Dr Jayanta Layek, Scientist, Agronomy.
A scientist farmer interaction was the major highlight of the “Field Day” and the scientist explained the queries raised by the farmers. The farmers felt that such exposures are beneficial to the farming community.
A field day demostration in the crop production division of ICAR ICAR Scientist along with farmers
Scientist farmer interaction
