Agriculture Minister Brijmohan Agrawal will inaugurate a five-day training programme for agriculture scientists and students at Indira Gandhi Agriculture University (IGAU) in Raipur on Monday. The training programme titled ‘International Summer School on Plant Disease Epidemiology’ will provide information and guidance about the various means for prevention of diseases in crops and horticulture. IGAU Vice Chancellor Dr SK Patil will preside over and will be attended by Additional Chief Secretary and Commissioner (Agriculture Products), Senior Scientist, INRA, UMRAGIR, Toulouse, France Dr Serge Savary would be the special guest on the occasion.
It may be recalled that in October last year, spray pumps were provided by the Chhattisgarh Government on subsidised rates in time which helped the farmers to protect the paddy crops from diseases. The crops saved by the initiative taken by the Government are ready for harvest, officials stated. Pawan Singh, a farmer of Bhawarkhol village under Kartala development block of the district said that he had sown Sarna and HMT paddy seeds. The four-acre land in which the paddy crop was grown was soon under threat of seasonal diseases with rainfall. Due to shortage of funds he was not able to purchase the spray pump from market.
He then came to know about spray pump provided by Agriculture Department and immediately approached the officials for getting the same. Pawan purchased the pump on half the rate of the market price and eventually managed to save his crop from diseases. Similarly Agar Singh said that he had sown paddy in five acres and noticed that the crop was being damaged by pests. He got spray pump for Rs740 only and sprayed pesticide to save his crops. Ganpat Singh of Dhamnaguddi Panchayat said that he had sown hybrid paddy in 6 acres and protected his crops with help of spray pump received on subsidized rates. He said that apart from receiving hybrid seeds he had also received bonus of Rs15000 in the previous year. The farmers said that although they sow the seeds but the facilities like electricity, diesel pump, seeds, tractor, fertilizer and spray pump besides crop insurance and bonus offered by the State Government helps them in getting proper reward of their hard work.