Rice crop cafeteria evaluation under APART held in Lakhimpur

A CORRESPONDENT

LAKHIMPUR: A day-long programme on Participatory Varietal Field Day of Rice Variety Cafeteria was organized by Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Lakhimpur under the aegis of Assam Agribusiness and Rural Transformation Project (APART) at Gosaichuk village of Bihpuria block on Monday.

The crop cafeteria was set up in the field of farmer Prasanna Bora where 10 different rice varieties of stress-tolerant type (Ranjit-sub1, Bahadur-sub1, Swarna- sub1), premium quality type( Kola Joha, Ronga Bora, Black rice etc.) high yielding type (Swarna Mahsuri) and also some locally popular varieties(Ampankhi) were grown.

The programme started with a welcome address by APART Assistant Project Scientist , Brishti Saikia. Senior Scientist and Head of KVK, Lakhimpur— Dr. Prasanta Kumar Pathak addressed the participants by thoroughly highlighting the importance of farm mechanization in the paddy fields of farmers in order to shift from traditional farming to commercial farming practice and also to procure benefits of Minimum Support Price (MSP) by realizing remunerative prices of their rice crop. He also stressed upon mass procurement of paddy by registering under Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs).

Subject Matter Specialist (Agronomy) Lakshi Kanta Nath extensively elaborated the importance of selecting rice varieties by the farmers themselves for their local environment which would ease researchers and breeders to develop varieties according to the choices of farmers of the region and thus explained the importance of conducting participatory varietal evaluation by establishing a Rice Cafeteria.

APART Project Associate Mouchumi Dutta, assisted by Research Technician Durlov Bora, described the entire evaluation process of the 10 rice varieties grown in the cafeteria and she alloted voting cards to the farmer participants to vote for their desired varieties by observing the phenotypic characteristics of their interest. Scientists present also took part in the evaluation process of the rice varieties and expressed their scientific views on variety evaluation. Scientists from Regional Agricultural Research Station of North Lakhimpur, Dr. Nripen Gogoi, Dr. Yater Das and Biha Ojha were present in the programme and expressed their views on the importance of scientific agricultural interventions in paddy farming with higher profit margin.

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