HENGBUNG (MANIPUR), Oct 2 - The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has plans to develop eight Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) in NE including Manipur�s KVK Hengbung as seed hubs cum skill training centres for farmers.
Disclosing this, ICAR Deputy Director General (Agriculture Extension) Dr AK Singh said the step has been taken considering the seeds and pulses deficit across the country and the need for enhancing the skills of farmers.
The DDG was at this picturesque village on Saturday, in Manipur�s Senapati district, to inaugurate a food processing unit at KVK, Hengbung besides attending a review meeting of the State�s nine KVKs.
Stating that diseases, insects and storage are the main problems in the production of pulses, Dr Singh said, �So the Centre started to invest for better production by adopting about 77,000 acres of land for demonstration.
He appealed to the scientists and subject matter specialists of KVKs to connect with the farmers using different mediums of communication to achieve the government�s target of producing one lakh quintals of pulses besides giving skill training to about 15 lakh farmers.
The visiting DDG expressed the need to develop integrated farming system in the NE States considering its land holding systems and asked KVKs to play a key role in making it possible. There are about 78 KVKs in the entire NE region.
Dr Bidyut Deka of ATARI Zone-III ICAR, Barapani told The Assam Tribune that the said programme will be implemented across 2.5 lakh hectares of agricultural lands in the NE.
Earlier, inaugurating the food processing unit, Dr Singh informed that less than 10 per cent of the fruits and vegetables were sent for processing in the country which is comparatively very low.
Vice Chancellor of Central Agricultural University Prof M Premjit expressed the need to enhance the farming system in NE by encouraging �integrated farming� through introduction of climate resilient crops and harvesting rain water.
