Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited (TAFE) held its annual Farmers’ Day event at Patna, Bihar, for the 10th year in succession. This year saw a turnout of about 400 farmers. TAFE Farmers’ Day provides a platform for farmers to interact with renowned agricultural scientists from leading universities and agri-research institutes. They share with the farmers the best practices in cultivation, irrigation, soil preparation, seed technologies relating to the crops of the region along with modern farm mechanization practices. Scientists from TAFE’s JFarm – an adaptive agriculture research center, also play a significant role in organizing and conducting the Farmers’ Day event.
The speakers included some of the of leading scientists and agricultural experts from Bihar, namely, Dr. N. K. Singh, Chief Scientist-Rice, Dr. Janardan Prasad, Chief Scientist – Soil Science, Dr. Mritunjay Kumar, Chief Scientist – Maize and Dr. Devendra Singh, Chief Scientist – Pulses from the Rajendra Agricultural University, Pusa, Dr. Vishal Nath, Director, National Research Centre for Litchi (ICAR), Muzaffarpur and Dr. J. J. Gupta, Principal Scientist – Animal Nutrition, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) – Research Complex for Eastern Region, Patna. The speakers covered topics that dealt with production technology of direct sown rice and summer pulses, best practices for litchi production, advances in production technology of high quality maize and modern techniques in fertilizer application.
At the event, TAFE also distributed free Litchi saplings to all the farmers attending the Farmers’ Day event. These much-sought-after saplings are developed at ICAR unit-NRCL and were given to farmers for planting in their fields and residences. Some field events were also conducted that tested the technical knowhow and mechanization skills of the farmers. TAFE also honored six progressive farmers from the state of Bihar for excellence in farming. Mr. Dip Narayan Singh from Vaishali, Mr. Jagannath Singh from Nalanda, Mr. Sohan Singh from Muzaffarpur, Mr. Kishor Singh from Ara, Mr. Sant Kumar Sinha from Jehanabad and Mr. Gupteshwer Singh from Patna were recognized for their outstanding contribution to agriculture. These farmers shared with the gathering, their knowledge and put forth ideas that lead to increase in yield and productivity.
Over the past decade TAFE Farmers’ Day has been held at Madurai, Tanjore, Alwarkuruchi and Kovilpatti in Tamil Nadu, Hosur and Doddaballapur in Karnataka, Rudrapur in Uttarakhand, Ongole in Andhra Pradhesh and Jodhpur, Rajasthan.