KVK-Alappuzha organised Agricultural Technology Meet at Harippad
An Agricultural Technology Meet was jointly organized by ICAR-Krishi Vigyan Kendra- Alappuzha, Department of Agriculture, and ATMA at Rola Auditorium, Harippad for three days from 23rd to 25th January, 2016 to scale up the successful agricultural technologies in the district.
Sri. Ramesh Chennithala, Hon. Home Minister of Kerala inaugurated the meet. In the inaugural session, Prof. Sudha Susheelan, Chairperson, Harippad Muncipality, Sri. Biju Kollassery, Harippad Block Panchayath President, Sri. Mohan C. Aravunthara, Vice Chairman, Purakkad Kari Land Development Agency, Sri. S. Sureshkumar, President, Kumarapuram Grama Panchayath, Smt.R.Geethamony, PAO, Sri. Abdul Kareem, Project Director i/c, ATMA, Dr. P. Muralidharan, Senior Scientist and Head, KVK-Alappuzha, Sri. S. Mahesh, Deputy Director of Fisheries, and Smt. Mayadevi Kunjammma, Asst. Director of Agriculture, Harippad addressed the gathering. Following the inaugural session Dr. K. Ushakumari, Professor, College of Agriculture, Vellayani delivered a talk on ‘Organic Farming in Kerala Scenario’. The programme was attended by more than 300 farmers. An agricultural exhibition highlighting various technologies in the form of models, posters and panels arranged as part of the meet attracted the farmers. In the exhibition other than KVK, ATMA, and Dept. of Agriculture, Departments of Fisheries, Dairy Development, and other agencies like KAICO, RAIDCO, AGMARK, and many entrepreneurs participated.
On 25th, a Research-Extension-Farmer interface on ‘Integrated Farming System Technologies for Alappuzha district’ was conducted which was moderated by Dr. P. Muralidharan, Senior Scientist and Head, KVK-Alappuzha. In this programme Sri. M.S. Rajeev, Smt. Jissy George, Smt. G. Lekha, Dr. S. Ravi and Dr. K. Sajnanath, Subjet Matter Specialists of KVK-Alappuzha, Dr.S. Shanas, and Dr. Surendran, RRS, Moncompu, Sri. Mathew Abraham, KCPM, Moncompu, Sri. G.R. Radhakrishnan, DPD, ATMA, and Smt. Mayadevi Kunjamma, ADA, Harippad interacted with the farmers highlighting the relevance of soil health management, use of organic manures, use of high yielding varieties, integrated pest and disease management, Coconut based integrated farming system, scope of value addition etc. Sri. P. A. Thomas, Sri. Rajan Babu, Smt. Sudharma, farmers, shared their successful experience on these technologies. More than 250 farmers attended the deliberations and interacted in this session.
A calendar depicting the day to day operations for integrated management with resource conserving and eco-friendly approach for paddy cultivation in Kuttanad and three leaflets (in Malayalam) on ‘Soil health management practices’, ‘Inputs available in KVK and their usages’ and ‘Activities of KVK-Alappuzha’ were newly prepared and made available to the participants by the KVK on this occasion.
