Field day on inter-cropping pumpkin with potato cultivation held in Dibrugarh

DIBRUGARH: A field day on pumpkin (Bheema) as intercrop with potato cultivation at Jhanjimukh village of Barbaruah Block in Dibrugarh was conducted recently.

The field day was part of a programme on 'Demonstration on pumpkin (Bheema) as intercrop with potato cultivation post-flood situation' and 'Demonstration on Improved Toria Cultivation in Sand and Silt-Deposited Areas' under the NICRA project implemented by the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) here.

A total of 32 participants participated in the programme along with Sanghomitra Sarma, Subject Matter Specialist (Plant Protection), and Parinita Borah, Senior Research Fellow, NICRA.

In the programme, Sanghomitra Sarma, Subject Matter Specialist (Plant Protection), Krishi Vigyan Kendra (Dibrugarh) outlined how the farmers would be benefitted by using different technology and variety of different crops developed by Assam Agricultural University.

The project is being implemented at Jhanjimukh and Lezai Miripothar Gaon/ Panimiri Gaon under Barbaruah Block of Dibrugarh. The main vulnerability of the NICRA village in Dibrugarh is flood and hence different interventions with respect to flood mitigation are being demonstrated so that farmers may cultivate different crops even during adverse climatic conditions.

The basic aim of the National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) project is not only to demonstrate climate-oriented technologies for the betterment of the farming community, but also after conducting several climate-oriented interventions.

In the field day, the farmers said that by doing intercropping pumpkin with potato, they got additional benefit from the same land. This technology has proven to be successful for increasing the farm income during Rabi season.

In 2019-20, the Toria varieties replicated to 150 hectares and during 2020-21, the variety replicated to 100 hectares area covering nearby villages, namely Baamkolakhowa, Gohainbari and Sakoi pathar with 250 beneficiaries.

The organizers were hopeful that these technologies would be replicated to other parts of the district, and even farmers from other districts where similar agro-climatic conditions prevailed, would come forward and cultivate the aforementioned vegetables by using scientific Agri techniques to boost agricultural output.

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