Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Secretary of Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) Dr S Ayyappan has stressed on the need for knowing soils, provision of soil health cards, trees around bunds, agro-forestry models, and bringing quality research and education and thesis works in universities and institutes.
He said this while reviewing the progress of research, education and outreach programmes of ICAR institutes, State Agricultural Universities (SAUs) and Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) located in three hill States of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir on the concluding day of the 21st meeting of ICAR regional committee number one coordinated by Central Soil and Water Conservation Research and Training Institute (CSWCRTI) in Dehradun.
Ayyappan stressed on the need for development of horticulture, agro-forestry and fodder production units in flood-affected regions, promotion of goat rearing, low-chilling apple in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh and improvement of saffron production in J &K. Earlier, ICAR secretary Arvind Kaushal interacted with scientists and staff of CSWCRTI and appraised them on the newer developments at ICAR and the need for improving delivery and redress mechanism.
The issues which emerged during the interaction included mechanisation in mountain areas, the need for protected cultivation and related technologies for nematode and disease control in vegetable crops, strategies to promote the availability of virus and disease free planting and seed materials to promote horticultural production, protection of farmers' interests with minimum support prices, promotion of aqua-tourism models at suitable sites, development and popularisation of integrated farming technologies and systems with combination of promising components, hay and silage making facilities to tide over fodder scarcity during winter.