A CORRESPONDENT
ROING: A one-day training-cum-awareness programme for oil palm growers of the Lower Dibang Valley district was conducted by the Department of Agriculture in collaboration with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)- Indian Institute of Oil Palm Research, Peravegi, Andhra Pradesh at VKV school auditorium near here on Friday.
80 oil palm growers participated in the programme.
During the inaugural session, Anong Lego (Director, Department of Agriculture) spoke about the scope of oil palm in Arunachal Pradesh and urged the farmers to avail the benefits provided by the central and state government and help make India self-sufficient in edible oil production.
Dr R.K Mathur (Director ICAR-IIOPR) spoke about the potential of the North East region and Arunachal Pradesh in particular to be the Oil-Palm Hub of India. He apprised farmers about the benefits of oil palm cultivation over other cash crops.
During the technical session, Dr M.V Prasad (Principal Scientist, ICAR-IIOPR) spoke about the technical know-how of oil palm cultivation and cleared many doubts and misconceptions of farmers regarding Oil Palm cultivation.
The program concluded with a farmer interaction program where farmers put forward their opinions and grievances regarding oil palm cultivation, which were addressed by the experts of ICAR-IIOPR and the Department of Agriculture.
All oil palm growers present were distributed with the "Ablation tool" for oil palm cultivation during the programme.
The program was led by Director (Department of Agriculture) Anong Lego along with Director (ICAR-IIOPR) Dr R.K Mathur, Principal Scientist (ICAR-IIOPR) Dr M.V Prasad, Dy. Director cum State Nodal Officer- Oil Palm T.D Neckom, District Agriculture Officer Balung Mengu and other officers of the Agriculture Department.
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