By G. K. Mahapatro and Swati Saha
To complement the cite-worthy national campaign launched by our Honorable Prime Minister on Swatchha Bharat Abhiyan, ICAR-IARI Regional Station, Pune took lead in devising new designs – viz. the Rodent control campaign, Termite management, noxious Parthenium weed control campaign in the pre-covid period, and during the covid lockdown, launching of Vegetable Farmers Forum (it hosted the first online National Web Conference during 25-26 June, an online webinar on Nutri-garden program in collaboration with OLM (Odisha Livelihood Mission); and latest an Online Inter-institutional Webinar on 31st December 2020 on the occasion of Swachhata Pakhwada (16th - 31st December).
Swatchha kheti – safe use of pesticides
To complement the current campaign ICAR-IARI Regional Station, Pune organized the latest Online Webinar on 31st December 2020 on the occasion of Swachchta Pakhawada (16th -31st December). Dr. S.K. Sharma, PS, and Coordinator welcome the Directors and their reps, of various Pune-based ICAR institutes.
The Joint Webinar “Clean Agriculture Green Agriculture” was in collaboration with Pune-based ICAR institutes viz., ATARI, DOGR, DFR, and NRCG. The objective of the webinar was to create awareness among all stakeholders about the importance of Swatchha Kheti - the basic hygiene in various farm activities, inclusive of the safe use of pesticides. The majority of participants were scientific and technical staff of ICAR institutes in Pune, IARI, New Delhi, and other stakeholders.
The topics of the webinar were all relevant to clean and green agriculture in nutshell:
Dr. Lakhan Singh, Director, ICAR-ATARI, Pune - Role of agricultural extension in educating farmers about basic farm hygiene
Dr. Prasanth G, Senior Scientist, ICAR-DFR, Pune - Importance of farm cleanliness in raising ornamental crops
Dr. Mahajan, Principal Scientist, ICAR-DOGR, Pune - Improving the yield of onion and garlic by keeping cultivation area clean
Dr. Somkuwar, Director, ICAR-NRC Grapes, Pune -Importance of cleanliness during post-harvest storage of grape
Dr. G. K. Mahapatro, Head & National Fellow ICAR-IARI RS, Pune - How to protect your health while using farm pesticides? (Swatcha Kheti – safe use of pesticides)
Dr. Lakhan Singh, Director, Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute, emphasized swachhata awareness among farmers through KVK. He mentioned that about 24000 students participated in this Swachhata program. He also mentioned the safe disposal of mulching and drip pipes which are used for the conservation of resources, so as to keep the surroundings clean.
Dr. Prashant Kanwar, Directorate of Floricultural Research, provided valuable information on specific advisory for the floriculture sector. Dr. Vijay Mahajan, Principal Scientist from Directorate of Onion and Garlic Research, Rajgurunagar, explained the necessity of improving the yield of onion and garlic by keeping the cultivation area clean. He highlighted that use of clean water rather than using dirty river water for irrigation can increase yield with good quality produce. At the same time suggested maintaining the purity of seed through proper isolation distance. He also underlined the significance of clean cultivation practices which will fetch good remunerative prices to the farmers.
Dr. Somkumar, Director i/c, ICAR-National Research Centre for Grapes, delivered an excellent PowerPoint presentation on the importance of cleanliness during post-harvest storage of grape. He highlighted the clean and healthy practices of grape harvesting, packaging, marketing as well as storage. Dr. G.K. Mahapatro (Head, RS Pune) provided, in brief, useful information about the Safe use and handling of the pesticides. Dr. R.D. Gautam, Ex-Professor, Division of Entomology, IARI, New Delhi, also emphasized the clean cultivation practices of crops and gave a word of appreciation to all the invited speakers.
Dr. G. K. Mahapatro is Head and Principal Scientist at ICAR-IARI Regional Station, Pune, Maharastra. He is an expert in toxicology and termite management.
Email: gagan_gk@rediffmail.com
Dr. Swati Saha is a Scientist and Officer i/c of Swatchhata Abhiyan & MGMG activities at CAR-IARI Regional Station, Pune, Maharastra.
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