Plant Genetic Resources Conservation Awareness programme on 05.09.2023 for livelihood support of small and marginal Tribal farmers was organized by ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi under the Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP) at Village Vagunda, Tehsil Gadbore District Rajsamand, Rajasthan on 02.09.2023. Exhibition of local genetic diversity of plant genetic resources brought by the farmers was organized during this occasion. The programme was organized in collaboration with Maharana Pratap Agriculture and Technology University (MPUAT), Udaipur and Seva Mandir, Udaipur. This area is rich in biodiversity of fruits, vegetables, cereals and millets along with vast forest wealth having natural populations of Custard apple and other minor fruits. Dr. RA Kaushik, Director, Extension, MPUAT was the Chief Guest in this programme and during his address to the farmers he highlighted the importance of indigenous fruits and vegetables largely being grown by the farmers of this area. He also shared his experiences of developing technology of Custard apple processing and disseminating it to the farmers for livelihood support. He suggested developing a programme on value addition and processing of minor fruits of this area especially for custard apple, aonla and jamun which would be highly beneficial for the tribal farmers. Dr. Ashok Meharia, IFS, Programme Implementation Officer, State Forest Department, Udaipur also addressed the farmers as the Guest of Honor and highlighted the need to protect forest biodiversity of this area and sustainable utilization of various economically important plants for the livelihood support of tribal farmers. He specifically highlighted the need for growing bamboo and other minor fruits in the marginal lands which would be highly remunerative for the farmers. He also proposed to collaborate and support ICAR-NBPGR and MPUAT for any such initiative in the future. From Seva Mandir, Mr. Niranjan Ameta, Programme Coordinator and Mr. Himmat Singh, Area Coordinator also participated and highlighted the need to protect local agrobiodiversity of the area. Seva Mandir has been collaborating with the ICAR-NBPGR for the last several years and as a partner supporting collection of germplasm, Community Seed Banks and in situ on-farm conservation activities for the benefit of small tribal farmers. Dr. PC Regar, Incharge, KVK, Rajsamand also participated and apprised the farmers about KVK activities and schemes being implemented by ICAR and MPUAT in the area. From ICAR-NBPGR, Dr. PK Singh, Head, Division of Plant Exploration and Collection and Nodal Officer, TSP, Dr. S K Malik, Principal Scientist, Germplasm Conservation Division and Mr. OP Dhariwal, Division of Plant Exploration and Collection participated in the programme. Mandate and programmes of ICAR-NBPGR especially for the benefit of small and marginal farmers along with the importance and need for the conservation of indigenous plant genetic diversity were highlighted and communicated. Availability of vast genetic diversity requires its urgent conservation and need for the seed/planting material of local landraces/cultivars for farmers was also realized in this tribal dominated area. ICAR-NBPGR in collaboration with MPUAT, Forest Department and Seva Mandir may propose a programme on in situ on-farm conservation and a pilot project on establishing Community Seed Banks in this area under TSP or any other suitable funding support. More than 150 small and marginal tribal farmers including women farmers were present in the programme. Participating farmers also presented their perspective along with the techniques of organic agriculture they are practicing in this area. During the programme Panchayat Sarpanch and Upsarpanch were also present and they addressed the farmers and extended their compliments to ICAR-NBPGR for organizing this important programme in this tribal area. Small farm inputs were also distributed to the farmers during this programme.
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