Pusa Krishi Vigyan Mela 2010 - New Delhi
The 'Pusa Krishi Vigyan Mela' is a Mela conducted by Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) under aegis of Indian council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) annually at its PUSA campus, New Delhi.
The main focus was towards ICAR released new varieties of Wheat, Mustard and other such crops and Vegetables endemic to Northern India Only.
IARI has sent a mere letter about the Mela to all the District Collectors in all the States without any details about the Mela and the programme menu. Since the Mela theme for this year 2010 is 'Agriculture Technology for National Prosperity', our District Collector for Tirunelveli, Tamilnadu acted very cleverly and ordered Agriculture, Horticulture, Agri Engineering, Agri Marketing and Fisheries Department to select eligible farmers for this mela.
A team of 11 farmers reached NewDelhi on 4-3-10 and to our shock there was nothing in the Mela for the farmers who are into Agriculture Mechanization, Agri Marketing and Fisheries.
The live Horticulture Demo plots shown to us was without fertigation, mulching and other Precision farming practices that are adopted by the farmers here in Tamilnadu. The Vegetable crops grown there are for North Indian climatic conditions and even the mist chambers erected there was to protect the plants from severe North Indian frost, rather than for the reasons we use them here in Tamilnadu.
The main focus was towards ICAR released new varieties of Wheat, Mustard and other such crops and Vegetables endemic to Northern India Only.
IARI has sent a mere letter about the Mela to all the District Collectors in all the States without any details about the Mela and the programme menu. Since the Mela theme for this year 2010 is 'Agriculture Technology for National Prosperity', our District Collector for Tirunelveli, Tamilnadu acted very cleverly and ordered Agriculture, Horticulture, Agri Engineering, Agri Marketing and Fisheries Department to select eligible farmers for this mela.
A team of 11 farmers reached NewDelhi on 4-3-10 and to our shock there was nothing in the Mela for the farmers who are into Agriculture Mechanization, Agri Marketing and Fisheries.
The live Horticulture Demo plots shown to us was without fertigation, mulching and other Precision farming practices that are adopted by the farmers here in Tamilnadu. The Vegetable crops grown there are for North Indian climatic conditions and even the mist chambers erected there was to protect the plants from severe North Indian frost, rather than for the reasons we use them here in Tamilnadu.
Onion in full bloom to collect seeds:
So, briefly we can conclude that all the seed varieties and the agronomic practices adopted there are in no way connected to us and it is entirely foreign.
The ICAR publication division has opened a stall in the mela and a vast majority of the books and VCDs were in Hindi only, benefiting farmers from Hindi speaking states. The presentations in the conference were in Hindi and most of the brochures, pamphlets displayed were in Hindi, So a farmer from a non-Hindi speaking state is stood to gain nothing.
There are some positive features about the mela which I would like to discuss in my next blog post.
Regards,
Vishnu Sankar
There are some positive features about the mela which I would like to discuss in my next blog post.
Regards,
Vishnu Sankar
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