JORHAT, Nov 10 - Participating in a mega exhibition of high-yielding rice varieties and modern day agricultural technologies on the premises of Titabor-based Regional Agricultural Research Station (RARS) of Assam Agricultural University (AAU), several farmers of different districts of the State on Tuesday expressed their satisfaction. They said that application of agricultural technologies and their awareness about scientific farming system helped them to reap more benefit from cultivation of rice, oilseeds and pulses in past several years.
The genetically improved flood-tolerant rice varieties like Ranjit sub-1, Bahadur sub-1 and many other high-yielding varieties, including Shrabani, Bokul Joha and Dhansiri, were displayed in the exhibition along with modern day agricultural machinery by the RARS, Titabor, and several other organisations.
Addressing the farmers, the Vice-Chancellor of AAU, Dr Kamal Malla Bujarbaruah, said that commercialisation of agriculture will provide more economic benefit for the farmers of the State who have engaged themselves in scientific farming system. It is to be mentioned that more than 1,200 farmers of Jorhat, Sivasagar, Golaghat, Dibrugarh, Karbi Anglong, Darang and Tezpur assembled at the programme, which was organised to celebrate Farmers� Day by the RARS, Titabor.
As a highly-educated progressive woman farmer of Charing area of Sivasagar district, namely Barnali Baruah, showed exemplary instances of growing various kinds of rice as well as profitably maintaining fisheries and livestock-farming, the Titabor-based RARS invited her to inaugurate the Farmers� Day programme.
In her speech to the farmers, Baruah said that scientific mythologies of agriculture help her immensely to reap more benefit in last few years. Along with Barnali, four other progressive farmers of the State, namely Sonaram Bora of Golaghat, Niranjan Pegu of Bokakhta, Dwipen Barua of Bhogamukh and Mon Bahadur Chetry of Sonari, were honoured by AAU V-C Dr Bujabaruah for their motivational works in agriculture.
As the Titabor, RARS, could successfully complete their assigned works of phase 1 and phase 2 of improving stress-tolerance rice varieties with the financial support of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and some officers of the State Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Departments, three agricultural officers Rumi Bora, Robin Yien and Irshad Ali were also felicitated in the programme.
�We are trying our best to develop varieties of rice for the benefit of the farmers. Massive awareness about the new high-yielding varieties and latest agricultural technologies among young farmers will help more for the agricultural development in the State,� said principal scientist of Titabor, RARS, Dr Sanjay Chetia.
