Union Minister of State (MSME) lauded the contribution of scientists during his visit to ICAR , Umiam on 7th February 2015.
Today (dt. 7th Feb., 2015) Shri Giriraj Singh, Hon’ble Union Minister of State, Ministry of Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises, Govt. of India visited ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Umiam, Meghalaya. During his visit, Hon’ble minister was apprised of the enterprising technologies evolved by ICAR, which may promote entrepreneurial opportunities in developing micro, small, medium level of industries in NEH region. Hon’ble minister was highly impressed with various technology demonstrations like Integrated Farming System (IFS)), Agro- processing Unit, Animal production Farm, Meat Processing Unit etc. In the agro-processing centre of the institute, the displayed products like jam, canned and dehydrated products of pineapple, turmeric and ginger powder, orange squash and candy from orange peel, candy from ginger, amla, carrot, chow chow etc. was highly appreciated by the minister. Hon’ble minister took keen interest particularly on the products like orange candy prepared from its peel, high value turmeric and ginger powder and chow-chow products which was highlighted by the Director of the institute Dr. S. V. Ngachan and Head, Agril. Engg., Dr. R. K. Singh. Being impressed with the performance of beehive charcoal briquettes and banana pseudo stem fiber extraction machine, he advised to cut down the cost of unit briquette from Rs 8 to Rs. 5 and emphasized the need of developing small entrepreneurship unit for these products in the NEH region by involving local youths.
Dr. S.V. Ngachan, Director of the institute presented a bird’s eye view on the institute and its accomplishments since inception. Highlighting the significant achievements of the institute, he said that the ICAR Research Complex was realized during 1975 due the visionary zeal of Prof. M. S. Swaminathan, the father of Indian Green revolution and earned several distinctions at national and international level for serving North Eastern hill region by giving new dimension to hill farming system research through developing secondary agriculture, agri-preneurial technology and women friendly agriculture. Later in his interaction with the scientists of the institute, Shri Giriraj Singh, Hon’ble MoS, MSME, Govt. of India enquired about some relevant technologies of NEH region like nutritional aspects of piggery, profitability of fish farming in hills and improved production technology of bamboo etc.
Reminiscing the contributions of Prof. Swaminathan for Indian agriculture, he louded the efforts of the scientists in keeping up their endeavour to feed billions of population of our country. In his address, Hon’ble minister Shri Giriraj Singh stressed upon developing commodity based model village and advised to link agriculture to market for livelihood security of the farming community. During his deliberation, he also suggested to adopt some model demonstrations on QPM cultivation integrated with piggery, integrating moringa (drumstick) production with mushroom and dairy production for its high nutritional value. He also advised to give importance to local vegetable germplasm like Chow-chow (Piskot) for its anti-carcinogenic properties. Hon’ble minister also distributed some inputs like improved seeds of potato, french bean and pea and silpauline for rain water harvesting through Jalkund to the assembled farmers under Tribal Sub Plan project.
The Programme was attended by the scientists of ICAR Research Complex, Umiam; NBPGR Centre, Umiam; CPGS, CAU, Umiam along with officers from department of MSME, and Khadi & Village Industries, Meghalaya and farmers from nearby villages. It was coordinated by Dr. A.K. Tripathi, Principal Scientist and Head, Social Science and ended with a vote of thanks by Dr. Satish Chandra, Principal Scientist and Head, Crop Protection.
