Enthusiastic Farmers throng SKUAST-Jammu’s Krishi Mela-2022 on Day 4

Jammu : To sensitise the farmers and common masses about the benefits of natural farming, a workshop on ‘Natural Farming’ was organised on the fourth day of Krishi Mela 2022 of SKUAST Jammu.
Dr.Vikas Sharma, convener of the workshop welcomed the guest and elaborated the activities being undertaken by organic farming research centre, SKUAST Jammu.
Deputy Commissioner Samba, Anuradha Gupta, the Chief Guest of the function informed the house about the initiatives taken by Government of India and Government of Jammu and Kashmir in the field of organic and natural farming to encourage the farmers to adopt the same. She sought cooperation from the university in laying out clusters of organic farming. She also informed that district Samba is designated as an aspirational district by the Government of India for the promotion of organic farming.
Dr. Rakesh Chouhan, Scientist CSK HPKVV, Palampur, discussed Subash Palekar’s natural farming and preparation of organic formulations like Jeevamrit and Beejamrit. Dr. Pardeep Kumar, Principal Scientist, CSKHPKV Palampur discussed the non-judicious use of chemical fertilizers and the potential of organic manures for their replacement.
Later, a workshop on ‘Diversification in Agriculture’ was also organized with Shyam Lal Sharma, Ex-Minister, as the chief guest and Dr. M.C. Sharma, former Vice Chancellor and Director IVRI, Bareilly as the Guest of Honor.
Dr. Anil Bhat delivered a lecture on the topic Heritage Farming- Documentation and Upscaling of Indigenous Knowledge System on Scientific Lines.
Dr Ashok Gupta presented a holistic view of the integrated farming system model developed by SKUAST Jammu for enhancing the farmers’ income.
At the outset, Prof.Vikram Singh, Dean, Faculty of Agriculture welcomed the dignitaries and gave an overall view of the workshop.
Dr. Manoj Jha, Director, Central Sanskrit University appreciated the stalls in the mela which provided an amalgamation of modern and vedic cultural diversity of the agriculture system of India.
Prof. J. P. Sharma, Vice-chancellor SKUAST Jammu highlighted the achievements of University like sanction of three new faculties as well as three new Krishi Vigyaan Kendra under the administration of SKUAST Jammu. He also said that J&K is at third position in farmers income from agriculture as per the NITI Aayog report.
The Chief Guest appreciated SKUAST Jammu under the dynamic leadership of Prof. J. P. Sharma for achieving significant development in a short duration. He also said that India wants to become Vishwa Guru in the knowledge sphere and not the super power in the military sense. This can be achieved through a self reliant India. Dr. S. K. Gupta, Director Extension, SKUAST-Jammu presented vote of thanks.
The proceedings of the workshop were conducted by Dr.Vivek M Arya. An Exhibition on application of drone technology in agriculture which is promoted by KVK, Jammu under the supervision of Dr. Puneet Choudhary also caught the interest of a large number of farmers.
A Cultural programme was also organized in which the performance of artists of Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR), Jammu and students of SKUAST-Jammu mesmerized the audience.
Prof. Bechan Lal, VC Cluster University, Jammu was chief guest in the cultural programme.
Krishi Mela is also telecasted virtually at www.skuast.org and more than 30 thousands to 40 thousands are viewing it on a daily basis.
Besides, a large number of farmers, school children and university students enthusiastically participated in rural sports viz., kabbadi, tug of war, volleyball, short put etc. in which the winners were awarded.
Women job card holders, meritorious girl students felicitated in Dacchan