Technology and Machinery Demonstration Mela 2019.
A Kisan mela for “Technology and Machinery demonstration Mela” was organized at Division of Agricultural Engineering, ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Umiam, Meghalaya for field demonstration of improved agricultural implements and machinery, plastic lined water harvesting pond, low cost poly house, post-harvest technologies and run-off plots on 15th February, 2019. The activities in the mela included display and live demonstration of improved farm implements & machinery suitable for hill agriculture, use of plastic in agriculture (poly-house and pond lining) and processing & value addition of the agricultural produce and even the run-off plots. A total of 215 farmers from different villages of Ri Bhoi District and one village from East Khasi Hills District, Meghalaya participated in the mela. Farmers were happy to witness and learn about improved technologies during live demonstration of the machines like mini-tiller, power tiller & its different attachments, grass/brush cutter, manual seed drill, vertical conveyer reaper, zero tillage row maker, winnower, weeder, pedal paddy thresher, zero till furrow opener, adjustable row marker, maize sheller, horticultural tools etc. Farmers also have shown keen interest for adoption of plastic lining of water harvesting pond and low cost poly-house for off-season cultivation of vegetables and flowers. Furthermore, processing machinery such as turmeric grinding machine, dehuller machine, ginger grinding machine, banana fibre extractor machine, etc. were also demonstrated to the farmers. The mela was inaugurated by Dr. Narendra Prakash, Director, ICAR NEH Region, Umiam, Meghalaya and Dr. Bidyut. C. Deka, Director, ICAR-ATARI, Zone-VII, Umiam, Meghalaya. Dr. Narendra Prakash urged the farmers to adopt improved technology for reducing cost of cultivation and increasing production and productivity. Dr. Bidyut. C. Deka, Director, highlighted the importance of agricultural engineering technologies and to popularize the existing technologies through demonstration and input distribution to the resource poor farmers of the state and he also urged the farmers of these district to adopt at least the low cost hand tools like the row marker and the horticultural tools as he have seen that many farmers in this region still using the same old traditional method of cultivation, so by adopting these, it will double their farming income and even reduce drudgery while doing field operation On the occasion of Mela, Maize sheller, Mounted Maize Sheller, U-blade weeder, V-blade weeder, two Garden Rake, Adjustable row marker and also four types of bio-pesticides i.e., Bio Catch, Bio Power, Neem oil and Bio Cure were also distributed to the tribal farmers.
