KIRAN Empowering Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation in North East

Interface cum Awareness Programme of GKMS with CABI at Arunachal Pradesh Centre, Basar

An interface cum awareness programme was organised on 5th October 2016 with Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI) under Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa (GKMS) at ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Arunachal Pradesh Centre Basar. The primary objective of the programme was to increase the reach of the existing Agromet Advisory Services under GKMS through interactive voice mail service under collaboration with CABI. During the programme Dr. R. Bhagawati expressed the need for interactive voice mail service along with existing sms service considering the diverse linguistic difference and literacy rate of the state. He also gave a brief overview of the agricultural status and bottleneck of the state that needs assistance and expertise of CABI especially for Jhum improvement, biodiversity conservation, horticulture development and marketing facilities. The programme was also addressed by the Country Director of CABI Southeast Asia, Shri. Gopi Ramasamy through video conferencing from New Delhi. Shri. Ramasamy gave brief presentation on ongoing programme and collaborative research programmes of CABI and expressed his deep interest to work for the development of farming community of Arunachal Pradesh. The programme was jointly coordinated by Shri. K. Bhagawati (i/c Technical Officer Agromet) and Shri. A. Jadhav (Project Manager, Mobile India, CABI) and they gave brief overview and plan to launch the interactive voice mail service in a project mode to some selected 500 farmers and stake holders for impact and acceptability analysis. Dr. Anup Chandra (Scientist Entomology) sought collaboration of CABI for characterization and identification of new insect species in Arunachal Pradesh. Shri. L. Touthang (Scientist, Plant Breeding) expressed his concern for identification and conservation of farmers’ varieties of different crops of Arunachal Pradesh under CABI expertise. Dr. R.A. Alone (Scientist, Agroforestry) gave overview on the initiative of ICAR Basar in conservation of different plant germplasm in the ICAR research farm and welcome the proposal of CABI for joint collaboration in biodiversity conservation of the state.