DIBRUGARH, Dec 6 - The World Soil Day was organised at Puharikhonia village under the Rajabheta Gaon Panchayat of Barbaruah block by the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Dibrugarh, on Tuesday.
Altogether 522 farmers from the area attended the programme. The objective of the programme was to bring awareness about the importance of Soil Health Card (SHC) and its usefulness in application of fertilizers and micronutrients to the soil as per actual requirements.
Dr Hiranya Kumar Bhattacharyya, senior scientist and head, KVK, Dibrugarh, urged the farmers to spread the message about the importance of SHCs to all fellow farmers. Dr Aradhana Barooah, soil scientist, stressed the importance of soil health and soil fertility management.
Dr Ranjit Saud, Associate Director of Extension Education, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, called upon the farmers to take the maximum advantage of different schemes, which are run by different development departments. He said that without adopting modern agricultural technologies, farmers would never benefit from traditional farming. He also asked the farmers to insure their crops in order to get compensation in case of crop damage by natural calamities by adopting the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana.
Subhan Gowala, Additional Deputy Commissioner, asked all the farmers to keep in touch with agricultural scientists and officers or experts to get updated knowledge. Hemanta Kumar Pait, Lead District Manager, Dibrugarh, spoke about credit linkage. He also stressed the need of repayment of crop loans including KCCs by loanee farmers.
SK Gogoi, chairman of the programme and District Agriculture Officer, urged the farmers to refer to the recommendations given in the SHC as per the schedule given for specific crops.
A total of 56 SHCs were distributed to the participating farmers, while 155 more will be distributed soon. Excluding these 211, a total of 750 more SHCs have been prepared by KVK, Dibrugarh, and are being distributed to farmers of the district in a phased manner, a press release stated.