Udaipur 06 February, 2024 21-day national training program “Directions for natural agricultural resource conservation and ecological balance” under the Advance Faculty Training Center on Organic Farming sponsored by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi under the aegis of Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur. And Dasha” is being organized by the Directorate of Research, Udaipur from 06 February to 26 February 2024.
On this occasion, Dr. Ajit Kumar Karnataka, Honorable Vice Chancellor, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur, in his address as the chief guest, said that there are “resource threats” all over the world, especially the deterioration in soil quality. Due to decreasing water level, decreasing level of biodiversity, deteriorating air quality and deteriorating quality balance in the five elements of the environment, “the effects of green agricultural techniques have not been sustainable. He said that due to changing climate change environment and ecological balance, Deterioration is affecting human health, animal health and increasing costs and now it is clear from scientific facts that food security and nutritional security cannot be achieved by over-exploitation of the land and by modern technologies alone. He told that along with reducing the dependence of farmers on market based inputs, natural farming should be promoted along with collective resource management of local resources. On this occasion, he told the participants about the principle of 3-D like determination, dedication and Gave drive. Dr. Karnataka said that in the 21st century, everyone needs safe and nutrition-free food, hence only by incorporating nature and ecological factors in agriculture, the entire agricultural system can be moved towards “pure agriculture”. He said that under the Indian Traditional Agriculture System Scheme, natural farming is being promoted in 10 states of the country. This will reduce costs as well as promote food and nutritional security. It is necessary to incorporate components of natural farming into modern farming to provide security to farming under the negative effects of climate change. Dr. S. Of. Sharma, Assistant Director General (Human Resource Management), Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, while discussing the need and objective of the programme, said that reducing the use of fertilizers by 25 percent and water use by 20 percent, using renewable energy. There is a need in our country to increase the use of carbon dioxide by 50 percent, reduce greenhouse emissions by 45 percent and improve about 26 million hectares of land. For this, the need of the hour is to introduce natural farming into the agricultural curriculum of the country as well as to make new technologies available to the common people, which is the main challenge before the agricultural scientists of the country in the present times. Indigenous technical knowledge and experiences of farmers will also be shared in natural farming. 23 scientists from 17 institutes from 13 states of the country are participating in this training. Dr. Sharma said that natural farming is today’s international/world level need. Natural farming is the priority of today’s farmers and time. Research on natural farming is being done for the last three years. Natural farming has been going on in Japan since ancient times. Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi has started courses at graduate level all over India. Dr. Arvind Verma, Director Research, after welcoming all the guests, said that soil health can be improved through natural farming. Beneficial insects are promoted through natural farming. In times of climate change, natural farming promotes conservation of natural resources and ecological balance. Dr. Verma said that today the country’s food grain production has reached about 314 million tonnes and horticulture production has reached about 341 million tonnes. Can natural agriculture be identified on 2 to 5 percent of agricultural area in the country? This is possible but it requires adequate trained human resources who can deliver the right package of practices and technical knowledge to the farmers and connect the farmers to the market. The Director, Dean, Head of the Department and faculty members of the University were present in the programme. The program was conducted by Dr. Latika Sharma and Dr. Ravikant Sharma, Co-Director of Research, expressed thanks.
Original link: https://www.mpuat.ac.in
