Thrust Laid on Fulfilling Prime Minister’s Dream of Doubling Farmers’ Income: International Rice Research Institute Expert

A Correspondent

JORHAT: The Department of Agriculture, Government of Assam, Assam Agricultural University (AAU) and International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) arranged an exposure visit and technology showcasing at a glittering function held at the Regional Agricultural Research Station (RARS) at Titabor. The function was attended by Binod Seshan, Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Government of Assam, Sudanshu Singh, co-coordinator of IRRI Team-India, Dr Ashok Bhattacharjee, Director Research, AAU, and Dr Tomiuddin Ahmed, chief scientist of RARS-Titabor. Scientists and farmers gathered at the day-long Implements and Instruments demonstration programme held at RARS experimental field on Tuesday.

“The thrust is on doubling the income of farmers by 2040, which is a dream plan of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The World Bank has come forward to assist the department, especially in the paddy-growing areas of the country,” said Sudhangshu Singh, the team leader of IRRI, India. “In this project, we are trying to bring a number of rice varieties like Swarna-56, Bahaduur-56 and Ranjit-56 which are tolerant to flash floods. Even if a flood occurs for two weeks, they either survive or regenerate and almost give equal yield in comparison to the normal variety. IRRI is also introducing drought-tolerant varieties in collaboration with Assam Agricultural University as well as a multi-tolerant variety which will survive both in flood as well as drought,” he added.

Earlier, Dipak Sarma, the District Agriculture Officer (DAO), Dr. Ashok Bhattacharyya, Director of Research (AAU), Dr. Tomiuddin Ahmed, chief scientist of RARS-Titabor, discussed about doubling farmers’ income by reducing the cost of production of farmers in the field by utilizing instruments which need less manpower for agricultural sorting.