A one-day brainstorming session on farm mechanization in north-eastern region was held on Friday organised ICAR-Agriculture Technology Application Research Institute (ICAR-ATARI), Zone-VII, Umian Shillong in collaboration with ICAR-Research Complex for NEH, Manipur Centre, Lamphelpat.
The programme was held in hybrid mode (online and offline) at ICAR-Manipur Region Lamphelpat and attended by scientists from various states mostly from no north eastern states of India.
Addressing the function as chief guest through virtual mode, director of ICAR-Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal, CR Mehta said that the north eastern state has high land holding capacity but its crop yield is not that high when compared to national average. To improve its scale of production, there is a need for popularizing farm mechanisation in the states, he added.
He further said that most of the north eastern states, mainly in hill areas, are still focusing on conventional or traditional forms of agricultural practices. There is a slow pace of farm mechanization in NE regions. Considering the increase of demand for agricultural produce, every farmer should be equipped with the skill of using modern technology instead of just relying on conventional methods, he suggested.
Director of ICAR-ATARI, Zone-VII, Umiam, AK Singha said that the session was held as per recommendation of 25th regional committee meeting (RCM) of ICAR for north eastern region on promotion of farm mechanization. The main target of the session is to dissect farm mechanization so as to come up with a feasible and effective document of such modern practices. Feedback and suggestions would be sought from the Department of Agriculture of every north eastern state and a final document would also be presented to them, he added.
As a part of the programme, presentations on various topics related to farm mechanization were given by different resource persons.
