TEZPUR, June 29 - A four-day survey was carried out in Sonitpur district by the National Horticulture Board, an organisation under the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers� Welfare under its Entrepreneurship Development Programme under the guidance and leadership of Managing Director Dr M Ariz Ahammed.
The programme, conducted from June 18 to 21 was carried out along with an expert team comprising scientists from the National Research Centre, Litchi, Muzaffarpur, Horticulture Research Station, Kahikuchi under Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Sonitpur and officers from the State Directorate of Horticulture and Food Processing and marketing expert from the State Directorate of Agriculture, etc., with a motive to interact with the young litchi growers of the district and to select them for an exposure tour to Muzaffarpur, besides fostering cluster development in litchi as its cultivation is very popular in the district.
Dr Manirudin Ahmed, retired Head of NEDFi�s R&D Department was present as mentor of the survey. The other members were Dr Sarat Saikia, Chief Scientist of Horticulture Research Station, Kahikuchi, AAU, Dr Amarendra Kumar, Principal Scientist of NRC, Litchi, Muzaffarpur, Navanita B Mahanta, Senior Horticulture Officer, NHB, Guwahati, District Agriculture Officer, Sonitpur, Prakash Bora, representatives from KVK and other research scientists from HRS, Kahikuchi and NRC (Litchi), Muzzafarpur, etc.
During the 4-day survey, it was seen that many young farmers showed their interest in taking up the crop more scientifically with new technology in order to increase their yield and resultant income.
They were interested to know about the various techniques of post-harvest management, its new marketing methods, etc. The team during its survey was well supported by the district administration.
Deputy Commissioner Narsing Pawar on the concluding day interacted with the survey team and discussed the various possibilities to enhance production of litchi crop in the district and expressed his intent to turn Sonitpur district into a litchi hub of the region.
The team during the interaction informed that the farmers are yet to tap the full marketing potential of the GI tag that was conferred on Tezpur litchi in 2015 and to avail the consequent benefits.
The team from NHB said it would take up the matter in due course. In all, the team interacted with 220 litchi farmers of the district. The team also visited a few existing litchi orchards to find out the myriad problems faced by the growers in order to prepare the training schedule as per the requirements of the existing growers of the district.
This is the first time that a training module will be prepared by the training institute as per the requirement of the farmers and not as per the set programme as practised earlier.
For training at the NRC, Litchi situated at Muzaffarpur, the entire expenditure of the farmers� visit will be borne by the National Horticulture Board as per its scheme guidelines. In all, NHB will be sending 200 farmers for training to NRC, Litchi.
