Farm production to get a boost as CPRI aims to adopt 5 villages

Bhanu P Lohumi

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Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 16

The farm production in five villages under Cheog panchayat near Fagu, 25 km from here, is set to get a boost as the Central Potato Research Institute (CPRI), Shimla, will soon adopt these villages to impart technical know-how on farmers’ holistic development of farm practices and assist them in solving other related issues.

The institute is planning to adopt five villages under the Cheog panchayat to ensure complete development of these villages under the Mera Gaon Mera Gaurav (My village, My pride) scheme, Dr NK Pandey, principal scientist and the head of social sciences at CPRI, said.

“Under the scheme framed by the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR), the programme will be first implemented with the help of scientists of CPRI and premier research institute under ICAR and later extended to students from agriculture universities as well,” a senior agriculture ministry official said.

It seeks to imbibe a sense of ownership among agricultural scientists of the country and the basic idea was to bring in a sense of ownership among agriculture scientists and also ensure that farmers benefit from best farm practices, he said.

The programme aims at creating scientific awareness on modern agricultural practices and special emphasis would be on inculcating best agricultural practices and executing schemes and programmes related to the agriculture sector.

To start with, five small villages in Cheog Panchayat in Shimla district with a population of 20 to 25 families would be adopted for the holistic farm development of these villages.

Cheog has been selected due to its proximity to Shimla as it would be convenient for scientists and other experts to visit the area frequently for firsthand information about the progress and performance under the programme and providing any kind of assistance at a short notice would not be difficult, Pandey said, adding that a team of five to six scientists would assist farmers.

Besides educating farmers and providing technical expertise for growing potato, the institute would collaborate with other departments and farm universities to help solve problems related to irrigation, soil testing and procurement of suitable seeds of various crops.

Pandey said we would mediate between farmers and soil testing institutes to get the soil of villages tested, based on which farmers could decide what would benefit them the most. Watersheds would also be constructed with the assistance of NABARD, he added.