GOLAGHAT: A one-day training on raising Mat-type nursery for Boro Paddy cultivation under Assam Agri-Business and Rural Transformation Project (APART Project) was organized by Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) - Bokakhat Development Block in collaboration with District Agriculture Office of Golaghat and International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) on Thursday at 2 No. Affala village under Bokakhat Development Block.
Block Technology Manager of Bokakhat Development Block, Romen Basumatary welcomed the guests and participants and highlighted the importance of the programme. Ranjan Baruah, Senior Agricultural Development Officer (Agro) cum District Nodal Officer of Assam Agribusiness and Rural Transformation Project (APART Project) of Golaghat said that seedlings need to be raised on top of plastic sheets in an area under this advanced method.
Such seedlings could be directly planted in fields with the help of transplanter machine. "It reduces the mortality rate of seedlings while planting. He urged farmers to adopt the advanced agricultural techniques that are not only aimed at improving their lives, but also boosting the agricultural sector.
Stating that agriculture is the mainstay of the nation's economy, Ranjan Baruah said the sector has proved its relevance by showing its strength in many adverse circumstances, including the COVID-19 crisis. Swaraj Baishya, Post Harvest and Rice Value Chain Specialist of International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) stated that under the traditional method, paddy seeds are strewn across the field, seedlings plucked after about a month, and then manually transplanted.
Seedlings raised thus cannot be transplanted using a machine. The manual method results in damage to seedlings while plucking and transplanting and the loss of seedlings would be more. He said that farmers could get more yield under mechanised method than that of traditional method. This type of mechanised process reduces the cost ," and time for farmers, he said.
Tapan Kr. Mahanta, Deputy Project Director of Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA - Golaghat) said, "As there is a crisis of agricultural labourers nowadays, wide use of transplanter machines will help the farmers, and also encourage the budding youths to be involved in the agricultural sector," stated a press release.
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