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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Scheme for mustard farmers, Borka


Borka village in Kamrup is being targeted for improved mustard cultivation under a joint programme of Lions Club and the Assam Agricultural University.

The programme aims to improve the capacities of 700 farmers of Borka village in Kamrup district in certified seed production technology of high-yielding toria (mustard) varieties TS-36 and TS-38 developed by the Assam Agricultural University.

The village is being targeted under a village adoption programme of Lions Care and Horticultural Research Station Kahikuchi is acting as the technical support partner.

Convenor of village development programme of Lions Care, a philanthropic organisation under Lions Club, Rajkumar More said a number of steps were on the anvil, including contract farming of potato and production of lentil among others, through a farmer group approach.

“If the programme succeeds here, we are thinking of replicating it elsewhere in the state,” he told this correspondent.

A training programme on toria seed production technology and certification protocol was held at Krishi Vigyan Kendra Kahikuchi in Kamrup district recently.

The chief scientist of Horticultural Research Station at Kahikuchi, Sarat Saikia, said at the programme that generation of quality seeds and planting materials through farmers’ initiative are the most crucial prerequisites for ensuring augmentation in the production and productivity levels of small holder farming in the state.

“Looking into the growing concerns of diminishing net farm returns on account of a variety of socio-economic variables and a growing market demand for quality crop seeds, certified seed production by farmers is the need of the hour not only to boost their income levels, but also to fulfil a long felt technological need,” Saikia said.

The training programme was conceived and conducted by Jayanta Kumar Sharma, scientist of Horticultural Research Station. Altogether 27 farmers participated in the training programme.

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