Farmers in the region need to come forward and join hands for natural resources conservation and utilising common property resources judiciously. The ICAR- Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation director PK Mishra said this at a short training programme in Badasi village of Raipur block under the Mera Gaon Mera Gaurav scheme. The training programme was focused on land use system for soil and water conservation for livelihood security.
Addressing the gathering on the occasion, the ICAR-IISWC director exhorted the farmers to come forward and join hands for the vitally important conservation of natural resources and the utilisation of common property resources judiciously. He said that Farmer FIRST programme of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) may be launched in Badasi village with major focus to be laid on rainfed agriculture and interventions for enhancing crop productivity and profitability of the farmers. The director also distributed vegetable seeds packets among 33 farm women with the intent of promoting nutritional gardening.
Expressing his views, the head of HRD and SS division of the institute, lakhan Singh cited some successful examples related to the empowerment of farm women, income generating enterprises and factors responsible for community participation in soil and water conservation and watershed management. He urged the farm women to “utilise their inner strengths for the cause of social development to become more self reliant.
The Krishak Bharati Cooperative limited (KRIBHCO) marketing manager and deputy marketing manager Om Pal Singh and JP Vikal respectively advocated the utilisation of liquid bio-fertilizers to reduce the cost of cultivation and also enhance the profitability factor in agriculture.
Principal scientist Bankey Bihari spoke on the occasion about success cases in the dairy farming sector while encouraging the farmers to consolidate unity for facilitating the sharing of resources. He also laid emphasis on the need of institutional building for sustainable agriculture through water harvesting and utilising the water supplemental irrigation. Scientist Indu Rawat spoke about post harvest processing and value addition of farm produce. She lay stress on the importance of proper drying, grading and storage of the farm produce to minimise losses. Indigenous methods like using neem leaves, salt, red chilli and garlic among others, may be used for better storage of grains. Among scientist speakers. Scientist Trisha Roy elaborated on soil health and its possible management techniques like application of organic matter, reduced tillage practices and mulching for sustainable crop production.
The village Pradhan Sarita Manwal, exhorted all the farm women to get empowered through self help groups in order to initiate income generating activities. Officials from KRIBHCO participated in hosting the training programme along with ICAR-IISWC with about 100 farmers including about 50 farm women attended the training.
