Governor Acharya Devvrat called upon Scientists community to undertake research work in the field of agriculture so as to promote natural farming capable of revolutionizing agrarian economy of the country. Crop practices based on natural farming will increase production and lead to increase in income of farmers, as well as, fertility of the soil.
Governor, was speaking on the occasion of, inauguration of 21 day summer school conference, on ‘Research in crop production of potato and post crop technology’ organized at Central Potato Research Institute here today.
He lauded the role of the institution and the scientists in particular, who were involved in developing numerous varieties of potatoes that increased production of potatoes in the country. He said potato has become main crop of food commodities and major source of income to the farmers.
‘The challenge before the scientists today is to double the income of farmers in such a way that fertility of the soil improved alongwith increase in production of the crops. It was not possible with chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The only alternative with the farmers is to adopt zero budget natural farming which was successfully tested in the field,” said Governor.
He said green revolution led to unprecedented growth in the agriculture sector that made the country self sufficient in food grain production. Constant use of fertilizers and pesticides damaged the quality of soil making it almost barren. This process should be checked and replaced by natural practices required for growth of soil.
He also released training manual and magazine ‘Alloo Manzri’ on this occasion.
Earlier, Director of the institute S.K.Chakaravarti highlighted the achievements of the institute in developing new varieties of potatoes for plains as well as hill areas.
Scientists from various universities of the country participated in the event.
