The first agriculture meet, Vaartaa, is being organised by Tata Steel in Jamshedpur. The meet is an initiative to make agriculture — one of the most important sectors by increasing the agricultural production and techniques in the region. ‘Vaartaa’ was inaugurated by Sunil Bhaskaran, vice-president, corporate services, Tata Steel at the Ganesh Puja ground in Kadma.
The three-day meet will conclude on January 30. KC. Panda, CGM, Nabard and B. P. Bhatt, director, Indian Council for Scientific Research, Eastern Region, Patna were present as guests at the inaugural ceremony. About 600 farmers from East Singhbhum, Seraikela-Kharswan, West Singhbhum, Dhanbad, Odisha and Tamil Nadu participated in the meet.
Fifteen agriculture scientists from across the country will also participate in the discussions on agriculture during the meet. Speaking on the occasion, Sunil Bhaskaran, said: “Tata Steel has organised this meet to give farmers a much needed platform to interact with agriculture scientists on farming issues. The knowledge dissemination through this meet will benefit farmers in the long run”.
Speaking on the need of such an interactive platform, Debdoot Mohanty, Head, CSR, Tata Steel, Jharkhand and New Projects said, “We cannot not have taken each and every farmer to scientists to help address their agriculture related queries and so, we are organising this meet to facilitate interaction between the two.”
KK Panda, Chief General Manager, NABARD, said: “Jharkhand is known as a food-deficient State. We need to make the State self-sufficient in food production. All the stakeholders need to work together to realise this goal. Tata Steel and we (NABARD) have common objective of helping farmers to increase agriculture productivity.”
Emphasising upon the importance of quality seeds, credit support and marketing for good return on agriculture, BP Bhatt, Director, Indian Council for Agricultural Research, Eastern Region, lauded the role of Tata Steel in organising this meet by bringing together Government financial institutions, farm-implement manufacturing companies, agriculture scientists and farmers for sharing of knowledge that will ultimately benefit the farmers.