Two days review cum annual action plan workshop of NICRA TDC’s KVK of ATARI – Zone VI at KVK Namthang

Namchi, 23rd April: Review cum annual action plan workshop of NICRA TDC’s KVK of Zone VI was held at KVK South Sikkim. The programme was organised by Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute (ATARI) Guwahati in collaboration with KVK South Sikkim. The two-day workshop from 22nd – 23rd April 2023 was held to review the progress of the work done for 2022-2023 and the action plan for 2023-2024 of the respective KVK’s.
National Innovations on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) is a network project of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) launched in February, 2011. The project aims to enhance resilience of Indian agriculture to climate change and climate vulnerability through strategic research and technology demonstration. The research on adaptation and mitigation covers crops, livestock, fisheries and natural resource management.
The inaugural session was chaired by Principal Director and State Nodal Officer of KVK’s Agriculture Department GoS Shri Tilak Gajmer. Dignitaries present in the inaugural session were Director Agriculture Department GoS Shri Bhutia; Director, ICAR-ATARI, Zone VI, Guwahati Dr. Kadirvel Govindasamy; Dr.H.C Bhattacharyya, Former DEE, AAU, Jorhat; Dean, Daffodil College of Horticulture, Khetri, Assam; Dr. J.V.N.S. Prasad, Principal Scientist & PI, NICRA-TDC, Hyderabad; Dr.Sujeet Kumar Jha, Principal Scientist, Division of Agricultural Extension, ICAR New Delhi. KVK South Sikkim, KVK East Sikkim, KVK Dhubri, KVK Dhemaji, KVK Nalbari from Assam, KVK West Siang, KVK Darrang, KVK East Siang, KVK Namsai from Arunachal Pradesh participated in the programme.
The welcome address was proposed by Indra Prasad Shivakoti, Senior Scientist & Head, KVK South Sikkim welcoming all the dignitaries and participants to KVK South Sikkim and thanking the organizers for choosing KVK Namthang as the venue for the workshop. Dr. H.C Bhattacharyya, Former DEE, AAU, Jorhat; Dean, Daffodil College of Horticulture, Khetri, Assam gave his remarks on the transfer of complete package of practices for climate resilient agriculture to the farmers. Dr. Sujeet Kumar Jha, Principal Scientist, Division of Agricultural Extension, ICAR New Delhi stated about the importance of the role of the farming community and the dependence of everyone on them. He also suggested on the transfer of promising technologies for the welfare of the farmers emphasizing the need of the hour to remotivate the rural youths towards agriculture. Shri Tilak Gajmer Principal Director and State Nodal Officer of KVK’s Agriculture Department GoS highlighted on the initiatives taken up by the KVKs in wider dissemination of the technologies. Dr. Kadirvel Govindasamy Director, ICAR-ATARI, Zone VI, Guwahati professed his appreciation for the works done by KVK South Sikkim. He also suggested on the importance of study of vulnerability index at district level and also to document the positive impact of climate change in agriculture.
For the technical session the Chairman was chaired by Dr. Kadirvel Govindasamy, Director, ICAR – ATARI, Zone – VI, Guwahati; Co – Chairman as Dr. J.V.N.S. Prasad, Principal Scientist & PI, NICRA-TDC, ICAR-Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad; Convener as Dr. Manoranjan Kumar, Principal Scientist (SWCE), ICAR-Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad; Experts as Dr.H.C Bhattacharyya, Former DEE, AAU, Jorhat and Dr. S.K.Ray, Principal Scientist & Head, ICAR-NBSS & LUP, Regional Centre, Kolkata with the Rapporteurs as Dr. M. Thoithoi Devi, Scientist, ICAR – ATARI, Zone – VI, Guwahati and Dr. Bagish Kumar, Scientist, ICAR – ATARI, Zone – VI, Guwahati. Remarks and suggestions were put forward by Chairman and other experts for better implementation of the climate resilient technologies for the welfare of the farmers. During the technical session presentation on progress achieved during 2022-23 and Action Plan for the year 2023-24 were presented by each KVK of ATARI ZONE VI.
The second day of the workshop will witness the field visit to NICRA village – Rabitar by the monitoring team and the participants. A farmers scientist interaction will also be held to address the issues of the farmers so as to produce a successful framework for making the NICRA village a climate resilient village in near future.
(Press Release from KVK, Namthang)