Meghalaya: NEHU hosts capacity building programme on ICAR-IIHR Technologies

A CORRESPONDENT

SHILLONG: The Department of Horticulture, North Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Tura, in collaboration with the NEHU-Deen Dayal Upadhyay Community College for Skill Development (DDUCCSD), Wahiajer, Jowai, and the ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR), Bengaluru, organized a “Capacity Building Programme on ICAR-IIHR Technologies for the Production of Horticultural Crops in NEH Region” recently, at DDUCCSD, Wahiajer, Jowai.

The programme saw the participation of approximately 200 farmers, predominantly women, who each received 50 kg of horticultural inputs.

These inputs, supplied by ICAR-IIHR, included 20 kg of compost, 3 grow bags, 8 kg of microbial consortium, 6 kg of citrus special, 4 kg of vegetable special, 6 kg of banana special, 1 kg of neem soap, and a kit of vegetable seeds.

The ICAR-IIHR, a premier horticultural research institute in India, ranks as the number one research institute among ICAR institutes and has developed 354 varieties and 156 technologies across 58 horticultural crops.

The event aimed to disseminate advanced IIHR technologies to farmers in the West Jaintia Hills, promoting sustainable horticultural practices with minimal chemical use.

Dr. T. Sakthivel, Principal Scientist at IIHR, detailed the usage of the distributed farm inputs. Shri M.B. Tongper highlighted the significance of organic agriculture and natural farming, emphasizing the potential for G.I. tags beyond the success of Lakadong turmeric and Khasi mandarin.

Dr. Prakash Patil stressed the benefits of using resistant vegetable crops to reduce input costs and encouraged farmers to fully utilize the distributed inputs. Professor Sanjay K. Singh emphasized the importance of chemical-free farming and motivated farmers to adopt the organic technologies provided by IIHR. He urged farmers to document their success stories to serve as role models for future generations.

Vice-Chancellor of NEHU, Prof. P.S. Shukla praised the event's success and the enthusiastic response from the women farmers. He suggested creating a WhatsApp group for ongoing farmer support and knowledge sharing and proposed sending farmers to IIHR, Bengaluru, for specialized training.

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