ICAR-NBPGR in collaboration with Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Fazilka, Punjab organized a one day workshop on ‘PGR awareness for SC beneficiaries from district Fazilka, Punjab, for improving their livelihood’ at KVK, Fazilka, Punjab, on 28th November, 2024. A total of 200 SC farmers including women from more than 20 villages of Fazilka district of Punjab were benefitted from the programme. Dr. V. Celia Chalam, Head, Division of Plant Quarantine, ICAR-NBPGR, New Delhi graced the occasion as a Chief Guest. Dr. Amit Nath, Head, Regional Station, ICAR-CIPHET, Abohar chaired the programme. Other dignitaries were Dr. A.K. Sangwan (Director, PAU Regional Research Station, Abohar), Dr. BS Brar (DPRO, Fazilka). Sh. Prithvi Raj, ACTO, ICAR-CIPHET, Abohar welcomed the Chief Guest, Chairperson, other dignitaries and SC beneficiary families and briefed the gathering about the program. Dr. Pardeep Kumar, Senior Scientist, ICAR-NBPGR, New Delhi interacted with the farmers about importance of conservation of Plant Genetic Resources. Dr. Bharat H. Gawade, Senior Scientist, ICAR-NBPGR, New Delhi briefed about the role of farmers in conservation of PGR. Dr. A.K. Sangwan shared the cultivation practices of different horticultural crops and their nutritional benefits for nutritional security. Dr. P.C. Gurjar, SMS, Soil Science shared the importance of soil health and advised farmers to test the soil for better crop production. Dr. B.S. Brar, informed farmers to follow the agricultural practices recommended by the central and state government agricultural agencies. The Chief Guest, Dr. V. Celia Chalam in her address briefed about the National Genebank, India and importance of conservation of farmers varieties, landraces etc. She also highlighted the importance of programmes in upliftment of the livelihood of participants. Chairperson of the programme, Dr. Amit Nath shared the knowledge of small-scale processing equipments of different horticultural products for increasing the livelihood of the SC community farmers and urged the farmers to visit the ICAR-CIPHET, Abohar for training in processing of horticultural produce. Dr. A.K. Ahlawat shared the different schemes of KVK for farmers and insisted the farmers for joining various trainings on processing of horticultural produce etc. at KVK, Abohar. After interaction with participants, agriculture tools such as battery operated Knapsack sprayers, grain storage bins, gardening tool kits, saplings of sweet lime and Kinnow were distributed to the SC beneficiaries. The programme ended with vote of thanks by Dr. A.K. Ahlawat, Head, KVK, Abohar.
(Dr. V Celia Chalam, Dr. Bharat H. Gawade & Dr. Pardeep Kumar, ICAR-NBPGR, New Delhi)
