NAMSAI, Jun 9: On Day 10th of the nationwide pre-kharif campaign, Viksit Krishi Sankalp Abhiyan (VKSA) was conducted at Mimey, Nongtaw, and Nongkhon in the Chowkham, Namsai, and Lekang blocks, respectively.
At Nongtaw, Rupa Mannow, District Agriculture Officer Namsai, addressed the gathering and encouraged them to adopt scientific and technology driven farming to enhance farmers’ income.
The representative of the Horticulture department motivated farmers to plan their farm for multiple crops in the same land by following appropriate spacing. She also encouraged them to cultivate high-value horticultural crops like watermelon, cocoa etc and utilize subsidy-based machinery for effective weed management.
Asstt Director Fisheries interacted with the farmers regarding scientific fish culture practices, supplementary feeding and schemes from their department.
A representative from the Dept of Agriculture explained the use of Soil Health Cards to the farmers along with various central and state government schemes which they can utilize.
KVK experts sensitized the farmers on several key management practices. These included the scientific soil preparation, varieties suitable to the region, adoption of Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) and Integrated Pest Management (IPM), leguminous crops rotation, mulching techniques and scientific farm planning, vaccination in case of animals.
They also highlighted the benefits of organic and natural farming, crop diversification, and the integrated farming system. Farmers were encouraged to take advantage of the subsidies and benefits available under these programs to boost agricultural productivity and rural livelihoods.
During the program, the farmers interacted with the experts where they sought advice on organic pest management, mushroom cultivation, mulching etc.
Dr Theja Angami, Scientist from ICAR–AP Centre (Basar), also participated at Mimey and encouraged farmers to adopt scientific vegetable cultivation. He also highlighted the use of low cost polyhouse technology for enhanced productivity.