Birsa Agricultural University (BAU) Vice Chancellor Dr Parvinder Kaushal today stressed on better coordination and integration between the efforts of agricultural research and extension machinery for desired results in the interest of the state’s farmers and farming sector.
Addressing the 30th Extension Education Council meeting of BAU at College of Biotechnology on Friday, he also emphasized on streamlining calendar of events and meetings of statutory bodies and saying that these needed to be finalized well in advance so that issues concerning the farm sector could be taken up in time as per the mandate of the institution.
“As agricultural research advisor of the State government, BAU is mandated to develop technologies for reducing the drudgery and augmenting the productivity and income of farming community,” added Kaushal where West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences (Kolkata) Director Extension Education Dr A Goswami, ICAR (Guwahati) Member and Professor of Extension Education Dr KK Sahariya, and RK Mission (Ranchi) Secretary Swami Bhaveshanandwere also present in the meeting as external experts who provided input for improving the extension programme.
BAU Research Director Dr DN Singh pointed that management of natural resources like soil and water must figure prominently in research and extension experiments because 88 per cent of Jharkhand agricultural lands remained rain-fed and 40 per cent were acidic. “Of the total 38 lakh hectare arable land, 10 lakh hectares was barren and waste land which could be gainfully utilized by fruit and forestry plants. On farm trials (OFTs) should focus on alternate use of land,” he said.
Presenting the highlights of last year’s extension activities, Extension Education Director Dr Jagannath Oraon said that altogether 13,802 front line demonstrations (FlDs) were conducted on recently released varieties and management practices of cereals, oilseeds, pulses and vegetables in an area of 4,758 hectares.
“Apart from that, training programmes organized by Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) included 1,718 applications for practicing farmers and farm women, 607 for rural youth and 212 for extension functionaries. For registration of indigenous crop varieties of farmers, altogether 984 applications were submitted to the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority (PPVFRA) New Delhi.