Bhubaneswar: Agriculture and Farmer’s empowerment department organised a ‘pre-seasonal workshop for Rabi crops’ at Krushi Bhawan here Thursday.
The two-day long state level workshop will witness several discussions by different groups.
On the inaugural day, director DA&FP, M Muthukumar said that in the workshop the key findings about the Rabi crops by the agriculture officials in different districts will be discussed.
He also informed the gathering that ‘Mo Sarkar’ will be starting in the agriculture department from December.
Marketing strategy for promoting different varieties of crops is necessary because then only farmers can try different types of crops rather than work or get stuck in one type of crop production, he stated.
In the workshop the experts and agriculture officials will also discuss 12 different issues and themes such as improving SRR pulses and oil seeds, integration of SHG in agriculture departmental activities, outturn promotion voluntary and compulsory retirement policies, farm mechanisation and custom hiring, emerging trends in plant protection, and others.
In the inaugural address, Agriculture Minister Arun Sahoo said, “In the workshop we will try to find the gaps in the state agriculture sector. We have huge infrastructure and man power so we must take steps to fill the vacant gaps.”
“‘Mo Sarkar’ and ‘5T’ are making a huge difference in transforming the state. We should focus on PPP mode for agriculture development. Economy and agriculture are dependent on each other and until we are not able to give the earning and purchasing capacity to the farmers then it will be assumed that we are still far from success in the agriculture sector,” Sahoo said, adding, farmers’ income growth is key to agriculture economy development.
While narrating the government’s vision for agriculture sector, he further informed the gathering that women empowerment in agriculture is top priority of his government.
PNN