National Workshop on ‘Natural Farming in Traditional Agricultural Production Systems of Eastern Himalayan Region

 29th – 30th January 2024, Guwahati

ICAR-Indian Council of Agricultural Research-Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute, Zone VI, Guwahati in collaboration with Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, Assam, and Keshav Smarak Nyas, Haflong, Assam, organised a 2-day National Workshop on ‘Natural Farming in Traditional Agricultural Production Systems of Eastern Himalayan Region of India: Prospects and Challenges’ from January 29th-30th, 2024 at the premises of the North Eastern Development Finance Limited (NEDFi) in Guwahati. The workshop aimed to provide a platform for stakeholders to converge and deliberate on traditional agricultural production systems prevalent in the Eastern Himalayan Region, to fit in with the philosophy and principles of natural farming.

Dr. Udham Singh Gautam, Deputy Director General (Agricultural Extension), ICAR, emphasised the potential of natural farming in the north-eastern region. He stressed the importance of awareness campaigns, training sessions, and on-farm demonstrations to promote natural farming techniques effectively.

Dr. A.K Srivastava, Vice-Chancellor, Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Pashu Chikitsa Vigyan Vishwavidyalaya Evam Go-Anusandhan Sansthan, Mathura, UP, spoke about the total carrying capacity of agriculture in context of increasing population.

Dr. Kadirvel Govindasamy, Director, ICAR-ATARI, Zone VI, Guwahati, highlighted the pivotal role of natural farming in the north-eastern region's agricultural landscape. He underscored the imperative of synergizing natural farming methodologies with traditional agricultural systems for sustainable agricultural development.

Dr. Inderjeet Singh, Vice-Chancellor, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary & Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana, Punjab, Dr. C.D Mayee, Ex-Chairman, Agricultural Scientist Recruitment Board,  Dr. Triveni Dutt, Director, ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, UP, Dr. P. S. Pandey, Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Central Agricultural University, Samastipur, Bihar and Dr. Dheer Singh, Director, ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, attended the event.

The workshop unfolded into three comprehensive technical sessions, ‘Traditional Agricultural Production System in Hill Ecosystem’, ‘Approaches and Implementation of Natural farming blending in Traditional farming systems of Himalayan region of India’ & ‘Feedback and learning from the implementation of natural farming in KVKs’

A highlight of the workshop was the session on the Promotion of Entrepreneurship in Organic/Natural farming in the Eastern Himalayan region.

A total of 150 participants attended the programme.

(Source: ICAR- Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute, Zone VI, Guwahati)