Share
Our Correspondent
Dimapur, June 9 (EMN): The Central Agricultural University (CAU), headquartered at Eroishemba near Imphal, provided agricultural inputs such as seeds, equipment, farm machinery, and biofloc to farmers in several North-East states on Wednesday through its 13 constituent institutions situated around the region.
The agricultural inputs were distributed through a virtual function held under the banner ‘Community Empowerment Programme Through Technology Products’.
Addressing the event, Manipur Chief Minister Biren Singh said that ‘agriculture in India continues to be the main source of livelihood for more than half of Indians. However, farmers continue to face fundamental issues related to lack of information on farm inputs, unorganised credit, and absence of market linkages’.
Further, he also observed that since NE is a landlocked region with rough terrain, farmers in the region face unique challenges. These issues, he said, also open up vast untapped prospects for innovation and technology in the field.
The event benefited a total of 1979 farmers from Manipur. 1890 farmers received rice, groundnut, soya bean, hybrid maize, and fodder maize seeds. Mini rice mills, on the other hand, were given to nine farmers, kitchen grinder juicers to 20, sprayers to 35, and biofloc units to 25.
However, he noted that the success of digital transformation in Indian agriculture would depend significantly on good information and input distribution to farmers.
In this regard, Biren Singh said, ‘today’s programme would go a long way towards bringing about awareness for such a transformation in the NE region, expressing hope that the CAU would continue its exemplary contributions to agricultural and allied technical education in the region and the country.’
Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, Pema Khandu, MP from Tura, Meghalaya, Agatha Sangma, Manipur Lok Sabha MPs, Dr. RK Ranjan and Dr. Lorho S Pfoze, Tripura Education minister Ratan Lal Nath, Mizoram Veterinary minister Dr. K Beichhua and CAU vice chancellor Dr. Anupam Mishra attended the virtual event.
Meanwhile, in another development, SBI Foundation donated one ambulance to the Chief Minister’s Covid-19 relief fund as a part of its corporate social responsibility and facilitated the government’s effort to fight the pandemic. The foundation had also decided to extend support with medical equipment worth over one crore to the state for development of permanent infrastructure in the health sector.