A CORRESPONDENT
DOOMDOOMA: A two-day Natural Farming Awareness Meet was organized by the Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) of the Agriculture department at the Zila Parishad office in Tinsukia on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The meet was organized to create awareness about the importance of natural farming in preserving the environment as well as its cost-effective benefits to the farmers. The event was attended by 86 Gram Pradhans from Tinsukia, Doomdooma, Margherita and Sadiya.
The event was inaugurated by Deputy Commissioner (DC), Tinsukia, Narsing Pawar. He spoke about the importance of natural farming in preserving the fertility of the soil for the future generations. He called for bringing sustainability in agriculture by reducing dependence on chemical fertilizers and high-yield hybrid seeds and by using integrated farming techniques.
Mridul Goswami, Block Technology Manager, ATMA, illustrated the differences in principles, practices and sustainability between natural farming, organic farming and zero-budget natural farming through a presentation. Another resource person from Spread NE Foundation, Sukanya Kurmi gave a presentation on the significance of natural farming as well as various techniques and methods using items from one's home.
The Gram Pradhans were shown videos on the making of various natural solutions like Jeevamrut and Beejamrut from items which are readily available at a village home, like cow dung, cow urine, turmeric, neem, etc. The Gram Pradhans were also able to witness Spread NE's Food Forest in Sonapur, Assam on video and learned about the technique of co-existence. Citing the example of Punjab and Haryana where farmers have destroyed the fertility of their land through excessive use of chemical fertilizers and other high-yielding techniques, Nayanjyoti Bhagowati urged the Gram Pradhans to spread awareness about natural farming in their respective villages to preserve the fertility of the soil.
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