Dimapur, May 6 (MExN): A training of farmers from selected village clusters for undertaking commercial production of vegetables in paddy crop cycle got underway on Tuesday, May 5, here at the Tourist Lodge, with Rongsentemjen, Director of Horticulture, as the chief guest.
The training, which mainly focused on eight commercial crops including potato, cole crops, curcubits, peas and beans, lady’s finger (bhindi), onion, tomato and chilli, was organised and sponsored by the State’s department of Horticulture and the National Horticulture Board (NHB), Ministry of Agriculture, GoI. The 4-day training was attended by around 82 farmers from 5 districts of Kohima, Dimapur, Mokokchung, Peren and Tuensang.
In his speech, Rongsentemjen said that unless and until farmers befriend the soil, they cannot attain self-sufficiency in the state. Pointing out that in the past, jhum cultivation was the only activity in the village leaving the land with no use for the rest of the period, he said farmers today need to plant different vegetables since the situation compelled us to go for planting of different crops in cycles in the same land to enhance production and to attain self-reliance.
The Director also stressed on the plantation of seasonal crops with proper knowledge. He said the training could bring about dramatic change in the horticulture sector if farmers grasped the information on different crops. However, he continued, it is the responsibility of the farmers to share information and knowledge of different crops with other farmers as well in their respective villages.
Assistant Director of NHB Guwahati, Lakshman Singh, said the Board was set up by the government of India in 1984 with a mandate to promote integrated development in horticulture and to help in coordinating, stimulating and sustaining the production and processing of fruits and vegetables and to establish a sound infrastructure in the field of production, processing and marketing with a focus on post-harvest management to reduce losses.
Singh highlighted the objectives of NHB, some of which include developing high quality horticultural farms in identified belts and developing commercial horticulture, development of post-harvest management infrastructure, strengthening of market information system and horticulture databases, and assistance in R&D programmes. He further referred to the different schemes of NHB such as development of commercial horticulture through production and post-harvest management, capital investment subsidy for modernisation expansion of cold storages for horticulture produce, technology development and transfer for promotion of horticulture, market information services for horticulture crops and horticulture promotion services.
