Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna Organised by KVK-East Sikkim, ICAR Sikkim Centre, Ranipool
KVK, ICAR Sikkim Centre organized one day Farmers Fair for Awareness on Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna (PMFBY) on 5th April, 2016 to create awareness amongst the farmers. In this important programme, more than 270 farmers and dignitaries from line depts. and various financial institutions like NABARD, SISCO, SBI etc. participated. The programme was inaugurated by Chief Guest Shri Somnath Poudyal Hon’ble Minister of FSADD & AHLFVS in the presence of Guests of Honour, Shri P. D. Rai, Hon’ble MP Lok Sabha and Shri B. B. Rai, Hon’ble MLA, Namcheybong, East Sikkim and Shri Ragul. R, IAS, ADC, East Sikkim, Dr. R. K. Avasthe, Joint Director, ICAR Sikkim Centre and other dignitaries.
Chief Guest of the inaugural function Shri Somnath Poudyal, Hon’ble Minister of FSADD, HCCDD and AHLFVS, shared his personal experiences on the difficulties faced by farming community of Sikkim in agriculture. He also appreciated the efforts taken by ICAR Sikkim Centre in organizing such pertinent programme to create awareness among the farming community. He also spoke about the importance of organic agriculture in improving the health of the people of Sikkim. He exhorted the farmers to extend the knowledge gained from this programme to the other fellow farmers. He also appealed to the farming community to opt for crop insurance advantage which is a dream of our Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to strengthen the economy of poor farmers. He also appreciated the initiative taken by ICAR- KVK in the field of soil health management and distributed 250 soil health cards to the farmers
Shri P.D Rai, Hon’ble Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha- Sikkim addressed the gathering and also requested the farmers to approach various financial institutions to get crop their insured under PMFBY. He stressed the importance of crop insurance under changing climate for sustainable development of the farming community. He said that PMFBY is more relevant to Sikkim as the state is situated in highly fragile Himalayan ecosystem.
Shri B. B. Rai, Hon’ble MLA, Namchwbong, East Sikkim presented an overview of the prevailing agricultural practices and stressed on the importance of PMFBY to the farmers of Sikkim. He appealed to the youth to undertake up agriculture as a livelihood source since the state has been declared as organic farming state very recently.
Shri Ragul R, ADC, East Sikkim, spoke about the natural calamities like landslide and hailstorm which leads to serious crop damage and reduced agricultural production and this new crop insurance scheme will be a panacea for the all the farming community of Sikkim.
Dr. R. K. Avasthe, Joint Director ICAR Sikkim Centre welcomed the dignitaries and farming community of Sikkim. In his opening remark, he apprised the dignitaries about the various works carried out by the ICAR Sikkim Centre and KVK East Sikkim for the livelihood improvement of farmers of Sikkim. He also gave brief introduction about the importance of PMFBY under changing climate scenario.
In the technical session, Dr. Yashoda Pradhan CEO, SSOCA, Govt. of Sikkim delivered a lecture on “Overview of crop insurance scheme in Sikkim” followed by R. Maiti MD, SISCO Bank, Sikkim who explained about the various schemes of SISCO Bank and crop insurance procedures.
Later, Anjana Lama, GM, NABARD, Sikkim detailed about the Kishan Credit Card and other Govt. schemes to the farmers and their role in implementation of PMFBY. Shri. S. Ghosh, Chief Manager, SBI, Gangtok, presented an Overview of PMFBY. Thereafter, in the interactive session between farmers and scientists, Subject Matter Specialists and resource persons, the video message of Hon’ble Prime Minister of India was screened. During the programme, different technologies of ICAR Sikkim Centre also exhibited for wider dissemination in the villages.
Team of scientists involved in this programme included Dr Ravikant Avasthe, Joint Director, Dr Raghavendra Singh, Sr. Scientist (Agronomy) and I/c Programme Coordinator, Dr J. K. Singh, SMS (Plant Breeding), Dr. N. Johnson Singh, SMS (Plant Protection), Sh. Boniface Lepcha, SMS (Horticulture), Ms. Pallabi Phukan, SMS (Ag. Extension), Dr H. Kalita, Principal Scientist (Entomology), Dr Rafiqul Islam (ARG), Dr Matber Singh, Scientist (SS) (Forestry), Dr R. Gopi, Scientist (Plant Pathology), Sh. Shaon K. Das, Scientist (Soil Science), Dr. Brijesh Kumar, Scientist (ARG), and Ms. Anushree Gogoi, Programme Assistant (Home Science).
Activities during PMFBY
Group photograph during the programme of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna. Distribution of soil health card by the Hon'ble Agriculture Minister Shri Somnath Poudyal
Chief Guest Hon'ble Minister of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Shri Somnath Poudyal addressing to the gathering on Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna
Dr. Yashoda Pradhan. CEO. SSOCA. Sikkim addresing to the gathering on PMFBY
Video massage play of Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji on the occasion of PMFBY
Video massage play of Hon'ble Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri radhaMohan Singh on the occasion of PMFBY
Showcasing of technologies to the farmers’ in exhibition
