KVK, WYRA – KISAN BHAGIDARI – PRATHMIKTA HAMARI – KISAN MELA – AGRICULTURAL EXHIBITION ON 26.04.2022

In the present century, climate change, water scarcity, food scarcity, ever booming world population, rising food prices and societal factors impact and threaten agriculture and nutrition security worldwide. The world is dealing with agrarian and nutritional challenges as agricultural lands with irrigation facilities has been exploited to maximum. The need of the hour is to focus on dry lands to further increase grain production for the exploding population and owing to low fertility of these dry lands, to produce sufficient grains can be a big challenge. The increasing pressures from climate change, soil erosion and biodiversity loss and from consumers' changing tastes in food and concerns about how it is produced is necessitating to search for alternatives that are farmer and consumer friendly. The natural world that farming community works which include plants, pests and diseases continue to pose their own challenges. In this context, as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare is organising Kisan Bhagidari – Prathmikta Hamari through various Krishi Vigyan Kendras’ spread across India. KVK, Wyra under Bhartiya Prakritik Krishi Paddati has organised kisan mela and agricultural exhibition to popularise millets that are climate change compliant crops scores highly over staple grains like wheat and rice of marginal growing conditions and high nutritional value. These nutri-cereals are abode with vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, phytochemicals and antioxidants that can help to eradicate the plethora of nutritional disorders. Its cultivation can keep dry lands productive and ensure future nutritional security. The revival of millet cultivation can be a step towards sustainable cropping practices that help in biodiversity. Agriculture diversification brings in a change in cropping pattern allowing farmers to expand the production that helps generate a higher level of income. Bringing diversity in crops results in strengthening ties between crop culture and livestock. It ensures the availability of rural employment around the year and future of India's agriculture economy through crop intensification resulting in increased yield per hectare. The suitability of oilseed crops for intercropping with cereals and other crops can be a promising strategy for addressing the multi-pronged challenges of food, nutritional and environmental uncertainties. “Biofortification” or “biological fortification” refers to nutritionally enhanced food crops with increased bioavailability to the human population that are developed and grown using modern biotechnology techniques, conventional plant breeding and agronomic practices. The meeting was attended by Mr. M. Satish, PD, ATMA, Dr. K. Kishore, Executive Officer, DLDA, Wyra, Dr. J. Hemantha Kumar, Programme Coordinator, scientists Dr. Jessie Suneetha W, Dr. V. Chaitanya, Dr. K. Ravi Kumar and Mrs. P. S. M. Phanisri, farmers, farm women, students and officials of agriculture department and allied sectors. In this meeting, farmers and farm women were created on need to include millets in diet, advantages of natural farming, the need for increasing oil seed production to make India self-sufficient and popularisation of biofortified crops. An agriculture exhibition on these aspects was organised and the participants visited the demo units of jowar, sun hemp, sunflower, green gram and sesame to learn about methods of their cultivation for increased income generation and sustainability.