Indian Council of Agricultural Research

Kohima, 17 November 2012

The third ‘North-East Agri Expo 2012’ was organized at Dimapur (Nagaland) on theme ‘Progressive Agriculture’. While inaugurating the Expo, the Governor of Nagaland and Chief Guest Shri Nikhil Kumar said, “Jhoom cultivation is widely prevalent among majority of farmers in Nagaland, it is time to utilise new technologies and information for modernising state agriculture.” Chief Minister of Nagaland and Chairperson of Agri Expo Shri Neiphiu Rio said, “The Agri Expo-2012 has come a long way since 2006. In these years, we have successfully   catalysed ‘public-private partnership’ in the field of state farming”. “I found the place and the people innovative and cooperative”, said special guest of the programme and US Senator Paul Strauss (Colombia district).

The ICAR-NEH, State agriculture departments, NGOs and around 40 organisations, both national and international, are participating in the Expo, The impressive line-up of international exhibitors include HSMM Group from Laos, NETAFM from Israel, NEDFI, NERAMAC, TRIFED and SFAC. The Expo is supported by the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperation, Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) and North Eastern Council (NEC).

ICAR Research Complex for NEH region, Meghalaya and its six regional centres at Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland showcased applied technologies to farmers and entrepreneurs through documentary films and by poster presentations in which ICAR institutes bagged four prizes.

National Seminar on ‘Progressive Agriculture’ was organised on the climate resilient agriculture. On the occasion, a book on ‘Resilient Shifting Cultivation’ (edited by Deka et al of ICAR Complex Nagaland Centre) was released by the Governor of Nagaland, while another book “Handbook on Farming” was released by State Agriculture Minister of Nagaland.

A Parallel Session on ‘Farmers-Scientists Interaction’ emphasized  on issues such as resilient agriculture in the context of climate change, horticulture for nutritional and income security, and animal husbandry for economic uplift of the farmers.

(Source: ICAR Complex Nagaland- NAIP-Mass Media)