BLETTING, 20 Sep: Almora (Uttarakhand)-based ICAR-Vivekananda Parvatiya Krishi Anusandhan (ICAR-VPKAS) in collaboration with Tawang KVK, organised a ‘Finger millet field day & farmer-scientist interaction’ programme here in Bletting village in Tawang district on Wednesday.
The programme, organised under NEH programme of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) to mark the International Year of Millets 2023, was attended by 34 farmers.
During the interaction with the farmers, principal scientist of ICAR-VPKAS Dr. RK Khulbe provided an overview of the initiatives of ICAR-VPKAS for promotion of millets in the district that include introduction of improved technologies (VL Mandua 376 and VL millet thresher) and farmer participatory quality seed production.
Senior scientist & millets breeder Dr. DC Joshi highlighted the role of early maturing and lodging tolerant finger millet varieties in boosting finger millet production in the region with special reference to VL Mandua 376.
Millet agronomist Dr. RP Meena shared the improved finger millet production techniques with the farmers and emphasized on adoption of mechanization for reducing production cost and enhancing profitability.
Tawang KVK agronomy subject matter specialist Dr. C K Singh highlighted the growing demand for VL Mandua 376 seeds and VL millet threshers.
The village head Ngurup Tsering acknowledged the efforts of ICAR-VPKAS and KVK Tawang in disseminating improved finger millet variety VL Mandua 376 in the area.
During monitoring of the seed production fields of VL Mandua 376, the precautions required for ensuring genetic and physical quality of the seed produced were explained to the farmers.(DIPRO)
