ICAR-NOFRI organized Meeting on Doubling Farmers Income by March 2022 in Sikkim
ICAR-NOFRI, Tadong, Gangtok and ICAR-Krishi Vigyan Kendra, East Sikkim, Ranipool organized a Meeting for Doubling Farmers’ Income by 2022 on April 10, 2017 with State and Central government officials. Mrs. S. L. Dorjee, Director (NRM), FS&ADD, Smt. Asha Lama, Director, SAMETI, Sh. N. K. Gurung, Additional Director (Horticulture), Deputy D.A, FS&ADD (East) from the Govt. of Sikkim, Programme Coordinators of KVK North Sikkim, KVK South Sikkim, Dr. Laxuman Sharma, Head, Horticulture Department, Sikkim University, Scientist, ICRI, Sikkim Unit, Dr. A. B. Sherpa, CAU-CAEPHT and Dr. J. K Shukla, OIC, IBSD, Sikkim Centre, Tadong were present along with the Scientists of ICAR-NOFRI. The meeting was chaired and addressed by Dr. Ravikant Avasthe, Joint Director, ICAR-NOFRI, Tadong. The Chairman of the meeting after welcoming all the members, briefed on the various reasons of low income of farmers of Sikkim. He also suggested various strategies to mitigate the low income of farmers which were deliberated upon at length.
The Programme Coordinator, KVK, North Sikkim, Sh. T.T Bhutia and Dr Ashish Yadav, Sr. Scientist suggested that value addition of local vegetables, adoption of alternate high value crops such as coffee as substitute of large cardamom and use of hi-tech agriculture for commercial crops to increase the income.
Dr. Raghavendra Singh, Sr. Scientist and Dr. B. A. Gudade, Scientist, ICRI, Spice Board mooted the idea of in situ moisture conservation for large cardamom and better management of soil health by concurrent use of different sources of farm manure from pig and goat in addition to cow dung based manure for scientific management of crops and increasing the cropping intensity in Sikkim.
Mrs. S.L Dorjee, Director (NRM) FS&ADD, Dr. Chandramani Raj, Scientist and Dr. Shweta Singh, Scientist shared their thoughts on improved marketing strategies for regular production and supply of organic commodities.
Mrs. Asha Lama, Director, SAMETI, FS&ADD, Dr. Tilak and Dr. A. B. Sherpa, CAU emphasized on regular capacity building of farmers and skill development, use of fallow land for agricultural purposes, and diversification of crops for enhancing farm household level income.
Dr. R. Islam, Dr. P. K Pathak, Dr. Brijesh Kumar and Mr. N.K.Gurung suggested the idea of area wise selection of profitable crops, use of low cost locally available resources for livestock feed production, production of winter fodder on fallow land and creation open grazing system within individual farm holding to maintain good health of farm animals for higher income of the farmers.
All the members put forth constructive suggestions for the development of strategies to increase the farmers’ income. The Chairman of the meeting appreciated the suggestions and advocated on the use of appropriate strategies for doubling the income of farmers by 2022.
The meeting ended with vote of thanks by Dr. Ravikant Avasthe, Joint Director, ICAR-NOFRI, Tadong.
Issued by: ICAR-NOFRI