Hangkhanlian moots providing technical, advisory support to farmers
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, February 02 2018:
Noting that North East region is lagging far behind as compared to other parts of the country in terms of crops productivity, Agriculture and Veterinary Minister V Hangkhanlian underscored the need to provide technical and advisory support to farmers to boost agriculture in the region.
He was speaking as the chief guest at the inaugural function of "Regional Workshop on Implementation of Central Sector Extension Schemes and Training Planning for Extension Education Institute, EEI (NE Region) and SAMETIs of North Eastern States" held today at City Convention Centre, Palace Compound.
The workshop was jointly organised by EEI (NE Region), Government of India, Ministry of Agriculture & Fanners Welfare, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat (Assam) and Department of Agriculture & SAMETI, Manipur.
Hangkhanlian observed that the yield gap between the research stations and farmers' farms in the region still remains high although agricultural scientists in the North East are working hard to boost major crops productivity in the region and get positive results to be on par with that of the States yielding high agricultural products.
He asserted that there is a need to make agricultural extension functional in order to translate the research findings/results into tangible gains at farm level.
He conveyed that Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) is a society for key stakeholders involved in agricultural activities for sustainable agricultural development in the districts.
The Minister elaborated that the agency is responsible for all the technology dissemination at the district level.
ATMAs are being roped in to reform agricultural extension in India, he added.
He said that the linkage with all the line departments, research organisations, NGOs and agencies associated with agricultural development in districts provides an opportunity to work in convergence mode for implementation of any programme.
Research and Extension units like KVKs and the key line departments of agriculture, animal husbandry, horticulture and fisheries will also work with ATMAs, he informed.
Maintaining that scientists and extension missionaries play a pivotal role in providing technology extension to farmers, the Minister said that researchers study the feedback of their research findings and check whether the technologies they invented/developed have been utilized in the agricultural farms and fields.
He also opined that the transfer of technology should go in a mission mode so as to obtain the right results.
He said that Mission Organic Value Chain Development (MOVCD) is being implemented in North East States with Government of India targeting the region to be an organic hub of the country.
Hangkhanlian said that coordination between scientists and extension functionaries should be the core strategy to achieve the target.
He urged the authorities concerned to identify the training needs of the extension functionaries of the land-based departments and the relevant organisations besides working out the action points of the various departments of the States.
The workshop was also attended by Dr Suhel Akhtar, Additional Chief Secretary (Agriculture); Dr KP Wasnik, Additional Commissioner (Extension); GoI; Dr PK Neog, Director, EEI (NE Region), AAU, Jorhat and Ph Rajendra Singh, Director of Agriculture as the president and guests of honour respectively.
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