[ Prafulla Kaman ]
PASIGHAT, 25 Mar: The College of Horticulture and Forestry (CHF) here in East Siang district organised a workshop-cum-seminar on ‘Diversified potential crops for food security of hill garmers of Arunachal Pradesh’ at the KVK training hall here on Tuesday.
The inaugural session of the seminar was attended by Pasighat MLA Tapi Darang, East Siang DC Tayi Taggu, CHF Dean Dr BN Hazarika, KVK Head Dr Brijendra Singh, and a host of agriculture scientists, besides the NBPGR’s all-India coordinator Dr SK Yadav and Northeast coordinator Dr Praveen Kr Singh.
The seminar focused on commercial cultivation of buckwheat, quinoa, and Job’s tear, which are called potential crops for the region and termed ‘climate resilient’.
Addressing the workshop, Professor P Debanath said, “The cash crops which were cultivated earlier but neglected are now becoming potential crops in the wake of climate change.” He referred to cash crops like
millets, buck wheat, quinoa, grain amaranth, chia, rice bean, winged bean and Job’s tear, saying that “these crops can survive in different agro-climatic conditions.”
Debnath informed that the CHF is running a ‘buckwheat cultivation project’ in the state, which has covered 4,000 hectares of area so far. The project is being funded by the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), set up under the ICAR in New Delhi.
Speaking on cash crop diversity and cultivation methods, scientist from the ICAR’s Basar (Leparada)-based Arunachal Pradesh centre Ampee Tasung informed that grains/seeds have food and medicinal values as these contain high-rate protein, lysin, fibre, minerals, and other micronutrients.
A technical bulletin titled ‘Cultivation Practices of Faba Bean; A Nutririch Potential Crop of NEH region of India’ was also released on the occasion.
Later, buckwheat seeds and farming assets were distributed among 150 farmers from seven districts of Arunachal and Dhemaji district of Assam.