25^th December, 2016, Abohar, Fazilka

Shri Vijay Sampla, Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, inaugurated the building of Krishi Vigyan Kendra at CIPHET, Abohar (District Fazilka) here today.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Guest, Shri Sampla highlighted importance of agriculture sector and mentioned that with the establishment of KVK, the farmers of the district will get exposure to new agricultural technologies. He articulated the role of KVK for imparting technical knowledge to the farmers, farm women and rural youths as per their needs. He urged the farmers to focus on the processing and value addition techniques as both sectors have enormous scope for increasing income and employment generation.

Shri Surjeet Jyani, Health Minister, Government of Punjab briefed about the importance of pro-farmer schemes introduced by the Government of India. He highlighted the agricultural scenario of the district and informed that the establishment of KVK is important step for skill development which will empower the youth for enhanced income.

Dr. Rajbir Singh, Director, ICAR-ATARI, Ludhiana briefed the mandate of KVK and informed about schemes of Government and with the activities of KVK there will be a visible change in the behaviour and attitude of farmers towards adaption of new technologies related to agriculture. He informed the house that this KVK can be a specialized institution in the field of processing and value addition and can show the path of prosperity.

Earlier, Dr. R K. Gupta, Director, ICAR-CIPHET, Ludhiana in his welcome address briefed the technologies developed by CIPHET and importance of processing and value addition in improving the income of farmers.

(Source: ICAR-Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute, Ludhiana)