Workshop on “Challenges and Opportunities in Horticulture for Doubling Farmers’ Income”

27th October 2023, Kausalyaganga

Krishi Vigyan Kendra-Khordha, ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (CIFA) Kausalyaganga organised a Workshop on “Challenges and Opportunities in Horticulture for Doubling Farmers’ Income” at the Kausalyaganga campus today.

Dr. J. K. Jena, Deputy Director General (Fisheries Science & Animal Science) ICAR, was the Special Guest of the workshop. He said that KVKs play a vital role in the dissemination of improved agricultural technologies developed by National Agricultural Research Systems. Dr. Jena emphasised exploring the vast options available in horticulture. He pointed out that disease is the measure challenge to be addressed not only in horticulture but also in agriculture and other allied farming practices. Dr. Jena suggested ensuring better preservation, transportation and value chain maintenance for horticultural produce.

Dr. P. K. Roul, Vice Chancellor, Odisha University of Agriculture & Technology, Bhubaneswar, inaugurated the workshop. He spoke on the opportunities in Horticulture for Doubling the Farmer’s Income. Dr. Roul pointed out that climate change and small land holdings of farmers, difficulty in the availability of loans are the major challenges to boosting the production in the horticulture sector. Protective cultivation and cluster approach are the opportunities to overcome these problems. Dr. Roul said that Skill training and extension support provided by the KVK system has largely contributed towards this accomplishment.

Dr. Pradip Dey, Director, ICAR- Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute, Kolkata said horticulture has a major role in increasing the benefit-cost ratio of farmers. He also suggested for fishery-based integrated horticultural system to increase the farmer’s income per unit area. Dr. Dey appreciated the role of KVKs in mobilizing farmers, imparting skill-developed training, formation of Farmer Producer Organizations and disseminating technologies at the village level for the betterment of the farming community.

Earlier Dr. Pramoda Kumar Sahoo, Director, ICAR-CIFA, Bhubaneswar welcomed the delegates and presented a brief overview of the Institute. He elaborated on the contribution of the horticulture sector towards the growth of Indian Agriculture.

Dr. Harapriya Nayak, Sr. Scientist & Head, KVK-Khordha highlighted the role and significant achievements of KVK-Khordha.

The first technical session with the theme ‘Horticulture for doubling farmer’s income’ was chaired by Dr. A. K. Nayak, Director, ICAR-NRRI, Cuttack and Dr. A. Sarangi, Director, ICAR-IIWM, Bhubaneswar.

The second session with the theme ‘Entrepreneurship development and value addition’ was chaired by  Dr. P. J. Mishra, Dean, Extension Education, OUAT, and Dr. Gobinda Chandra Acharya, Principal Scientist & Head, CHES, Bhubaneswar.

The third technical session with the theme  ‘Horticulture based FPOs-the way forward’ was chaired by Dr. P. J. Mishra, Dean, Extension Education, OUAT, Bhubaneswar, Dr. Gouri Sankar Sahoo, Former Professor & Head, Dept. of Vegetable Science, OUAT, Bhubaneswar.

Around 200 participants including scientists of ICAR-CIFA and other sister institutes, horticulture Scientists from KVKs, Officers from the Horticulture Department of Khordha District, Representatives of Farmer Producer Companies, Non-Government Organisations and Progressive Farmers attended the workshop.

(Source: ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (CIFA) Kausalyaganga, Bhubneshwar)