5 Day Krishi Mela 2022 concludes at SKUAST-Jammu
Jammu, Mar 11: Five day long Krishi Mela organized physically as well as virtually at SKUAST-Jammu concluded today here at Chatha.
Prof. J.P. Sharma, Vice-Chancellor, SKUAST-Jammu and Chief patron of Kisan Mela was the chief guest at the valedictory function.
Dr. M.C. Sharma, Former VC and Director, IVRI, Bareilly, Dr. Ashok Kumar, ADG (Animal Sciences) ICAR, New Delhi, Padamshree Shri Bharat Bhushan Tyagi, K. K. Sharma, Director Agriculture, Jammu; Ram Savak, Director Horticulture, Jammu and Suraj Bhardwaj were Guest of Honour(s) during the function.
Speaking on the occasion, Prof. J. P. Sharma, Vice Chancellor, SKUAST-Jammu while expressing his satisfaction and happiness on the successful completion of 5 days long Krishi Mela congratulated all the farmers, agri-preneurs, NGO’s, government departments, KVK’s, research stations, startups, different Divisions of the University, private companies etc. for their active participation in Krishi Mela. He said that with the exposure of such type of melas, farmers have been immensely benefitted directly and hopefully in future will become successful entrepreneurs who will play a key role in the national economy. Prof. Sharma said that as per Niti Ayog Report, J&K UT stands at third place at National level in terms of farmers’ income per month. He said that the university has developed 20 start-ups and is committed to develop more.
Prof. Sharma during his address also spoke about promotion of specialty agriculture and heritage agriculture. He stressed to work for the ways to promote and validate indigenous traditional crops like wild marigold, kala zeera, saffron, lemon grass, gucchi etc. He informed that around twelve thousand farmers attended the mela physically whereas around two lakhs viewers watched the mela virtually. He said that stalls exhibited in the mela were of national standard and at par with reputed national institutes. He congratulated organizers and committee members of different events for successfully arranging and conducting the mega event. Earlier, progressive farmers such as Sonu Singh from Kathua and Karan Raj Sharma from Samba gave feedback about the mela and congratulated the Vice Chancellor and team of SKUAST-Jammu for their continuous help and support to the farming community. About three hundred stalls of University, government departments, Agri Startups and private companies were exhibited. Besides, Kisan Goshti, rural sports and cultural programmes were regular features during the five day Krishi Mela. Dr. Ashok Kumar, ADG (Animal Sciences) ICAR, New Delhi highlighted climate change, new diseases and their diagnosis which needs use of modern technology. Production needs to be increased while the cost of cultivation needs to be decreased. Processing, value addition and experimentation in labs should be done for betterment of the farming society.
Dr. M.C. Sharma, Former VC and Director, IVRI, Bareilly in his address congratulated Prof. Sharma for organizing the mela in a wonderful manner and taking the SKUAST-Jammu to new heights in a short span of time. He also highlighted that progressive farmers are role models for other farmers. He said that Krishi Mela was very well organized and highly developed. Dog show was exemplary as more than 100 dogs were involved in the program. Dr. K.K. Sharma, Director Agriculture highlighted the role of women farmers in agriculture, digitalization and forming Self help groups (SHGs) for betterment of women farmers. Padma Shree Bharat Bhushan Tyagi Ji, discussed integration of farmers and scientists and the need for better flow of knowledge between them.
On the last day of Krishi mela, a workshop on Farmers Producer Organizations was organized. Dr. A. K. Sood, Chief General Manager, NABARD was the Chief Guest during the workshop on FPOs whereas Prof. J. P. Sharma, Vice Chancellor, SKUAST-Jammu was Guest of Honour. He said that NABRD is running development projects for the welfare of the farming community and farmers are further requested to contact DDM of concerned Districts for any scheme. Prof. J. P. Sharma, Vice Chancellor in his remarks said that more emphasis should be given for reducing cost of cultivation, improving water use efficiency, value addition, processing and marketing for enhancing income of farmers. Dr. Manoj Sharma, Assistant Director, National Bee Board stressed to focus on value addition and marketing of Honey Bee through promotion of One District One Product scheme of Govt of India. He said that under Atma Nirbhar Bharat, GoI is committed to promote the National Bee Mission for the welfare of the Bee Keepers. He further informed that 100 labs are proposed to be established in near future to check any adulteration in honey. Farmer members of different FPOs implemented by NABARD and supervised by SKUAST-Jammu also spoke on the occasion and shared their experience on FPO. During the workshop booklet on Field Diagnostic study of Block Hiranagar and Wall Hanging Calendar was also released. A special session for school students was organized wherein about 300 students from class 11th and 12th were present along with their teachers. Dr. Ravi Shankar Sharma, Director School Education was the Chief guest and Prof. S.K. Gupta, Registrar SKUAST-Jammu was the Chairman. Gulab Singh, an innovative Pulse Production farmer from Madhya Pradesh was present to motivate the students. Lectures on “Why Agricultural Education” and “Entrepreneurial Career Opportunities in Veterinary Sciences” were delivered by Dr. Rajinder Peshin and Dr. Pranav Kumar. Dr. Ravi Shankar Sharma remarked that the purpose of bringing students to University was to expose them to career opportunities in agriculture and allied sectors. He was of the view that modern agriculture is the amalgamation of science & technology and offers immense opportunities to students. The students should become professional and become job providers rather than job seekers. Different Rural Sports Events were organized during 5 days of Krishi Mela 2022. The different events organized were – tug of war, race, kabaddi, volleyball, shot put and wrestling which remained the main attraction of the 5 days Krishi Mela. The cultural programmes were also organized during the mela. Number of books and calendars for the farming community were also released, edited and authored by scientists of SKUAST-Jammu.
Progressive farmers and startups of Jammu Division were felicitated with cash prizes and certificates for their contribution in agriculture and allied sectors.
Under the government department category, first prize was given to Division of Sericulture, second prize to Department of Agriculture Jammu whereas third prize was bagged by Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Jammu, SKUAST-Jammu. In another category, awards were distributed to Village Sungal as Amla Village and Badyal Brahmna as Brocolli village. Organizers of different events and owners of public and private parks were also felicitated. Cash prize were also distributed among livestock owners. Prizes were also given to exhibitors in different categories. Earlier, Dr. Jyoti Kachroo, Director Planning and Monitoring welcomed all the dignitaries and participants. Dr. Sumati Sharma, Additional Director, DRDO; Dr. Pradeep Wali, Director Research, Dr. Bikram Singh, Dean, FoA; Dr. S.K. Gupta Registrar, Dr. Rakesh Nanda, Director Education, Dr. M. S. Bhadwal, Dean, F.V.Sc; Dr. S.E.H. Rizvi, Dean, F.B.Sc. and all the statutory officers, head of the Divisions, faculty members, non teaching employees, students and farmers were also present during the valedictory function. Vote of thanks was presented by Dr. S.K. Gupta Director Extension and proceedings were conducted by Dr. Vinod Gupta and Dr. Pawan Sharma.