PASIGHAT, 7 Feb: The College of Agriculture (CoA) here in East Siang district conducted a series of training programmes on mushroom cultivation, vermicomposting, value addition and ICT application in agriculture at border villages Bona, Nyaming, Norbuling and Gelling in Upper Siang district from 29 January to 1 February.
The programmes were conducted under a project funded by the National Mission on Himalayan Studies of the union environment, forest & climate change ministry, with Dr Senpon Ngomle as project investigator.
“The initiative was aimed at enhancing the livelihood of tribal farmers by penetration of modern agricultural practices in border villages, ie, to reach to the un-reached and ensure sustainable productivity, and uplift the economic status of tribal communities,” the CoA informed in a release.
The training programmes consisted of technical and practical demonstration sessions, and saw the participation of altogether 120 farmers.
The farmers were educated on oyster mushroom cultivation, and opportunities and constraints in mushroom cultivation. There were demonstrations on mushroom cultivation, besides information dissemination on the usage of information and communication technology to improve farming practices.
“Waste-to-wealth conversion by vermicomposting, value addition of horticultural products through preparation of cassava chips, millets laddu, orange juice, etc,” were also part of the programmes, the release said.
At the end of the programmes, mushroom spawns and vermibeds were distributed to the farmers, it said.
