Starting of a three-day national conference from June 08, 2024 at the Agricultural College, Purnia for the proper development of Makhana and waterlogged areas and expansion of Makhana-based technology at the national level.
This national conference will establish Makhana, Bihar’s heritage, on the world stage: Chancellor-cum-Governor, Bihar Shri Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar
The three-day Makhana-National Conference on Utilization of Waterlogged Ecosystems with Aquaculture: Challenges and Strategies program was formally launched and inaugurated jointly by the Honorable Chancellor-cum-Governor of Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour, Bhagalpur, Shri Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, Raj Bhavan Patna, as the Chief Guest and Honorable Agriculture and Health Minister, Bihar Government, Shri Mangal Pandey, as the Special Guest, joining online/virtually from Patna itself. Honorable Vice Chancellor Dr. D. R. Singh virtually welcomed the Honorable Chancellor-cum-Governor, Bihar Shri Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar and Honorable Agriculture and Health Minister, Bihar Government, Shri Mangal Pandey, as the Special Guest, by giving them a plant, Mithila’s identity turban, shawl, Lord Buddha’s statue and the message of Mithila Makhana. Once again, Honorable Vice Chancellor Dr. D. R. Singh welcomed Dr. Sanjay Kumar Singh, Deputy Director General Horticulture Sciences, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi and Dr. Vishwa Bandhu Patel, Assistant Director General Crops & Plantation Crops, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi by giving them a message of plant, identity of Mithila – turban, robes, statue of Lord Buddha and Mithila Makhana. Professor (Agriculture) Dr. Ajay Kumar Sah welcomed Honorable Vice Chancellor, Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour, Bhagalpur Dr. D. R. Singh; Director Extension Education Dr. R. K. Sohane welcomed Mr. Vijay Prakash, former Agriculture Production Commissioner, Government of Bihar, IAS & Director Bihar Vidyapeeth, Patna; Principal Dr. Paras Nath welcomed Professor (Agriculture) Dr. Ajay Kumar Sah and Director Extension Education Dr. R. K. Sohane was welcomed by the National Conference Organizing Secretary Makhana Scientist Dr. Anil Kumar by giving Principal Dr. Paras Nath a plant, Mithila’s identity turban, robes, Lord Buddha’s statue and a message of Mithila Makhana. Thereafter, the program was formally inaugurated by the guests jointly lighting the lamp. The welcome song was presented by the students.
Honorable Chancellor-cum-Governor, Bihar Shri Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar virtually inaugurated the newly constructed auditorium in the college campus and also released the souvenir of the national conference, Makhana Crop Pride of Bihar book and 100 gram and 200 gram packets designed by the Indian Packaging Institute for marketing and branding of Makhana at the global level.
Earlier, the Honorable Vice Chancellor, Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour, Dr. D.R. Singh and other guests inaugurated the exhibition based on Makhana in the college and also visited the stall based on Makhana technology.
Honorable Chancellor-cum-Governor, Bihar Shri Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar in his address first of all congratulated Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour and Bhola Paswan Shastri Agricultural College, Purnia for organizing a three-day national conference on Makhana-Aquaculture with Utilization of Waterlogged Ecosystem: Challenges and Strategies. He said that this national conference will provide an important opportunity for informative discussions on various issues for the all-round development of Makhana in Bihar, and will also be beneficial for the farmers of Bihar as well as the farmers of waterlogged areas of other states of the country. During the three-day national conference, detailed and in-depth discussions on various dimensions of Makhana production, productivity, value addition will not only increase the production, productivity and profitability of the unused waterlogged areas in Bihar through Makhana-based techniques, but will also promote Makhana and Makhana-based value-added products at the global level. Bihar will play the role of a guide for the country and the world in this regard. Finally, he added that we need to formulate a Makhana-centric research and development strategy to overcome the adverse effects of climate on Makhana production.
Honorable Agriculture and Health Minister of Bihar Government, Shri Mangal Pandey, in his virtual address said that due to the lack of direct export of Makhana from Bihar State, Bihar was not recognized for the production and processing of Makhana at the global level. By getting GI (Golden) tagging of Makhana, farmers will get maximum benefit in marketing. There will be special branding of Makhana in national and international markets, as well as social and economic progress of farmers. Agricultural College, Purnia has an important contribution in getting GI (Golden) tag for Makhana. Due to the havoc of floods, our cultivable land remains affected by waterlogging, which can be converted into an opportunity during Makhana cultivation. Emphasis was laid on the need to promote Makhana-cum-fish farming on a large scale.
Honorable Vice Chancellor Dr. D.R. Singh Makhana, Bihar’s heritage, which was seen as a wild crop in waterlogged areas, has today established its distinct identity on the world stage.
This national conference has active participation of scientists, entrepreneurs, extension workers from seven states of India as well as progressive farmers engaged in Makhana cultivation. Such programs are extremely necessary to promote marketing and branding of Makhana at the global level, because Makhana is a heritage crop of Bihar and 85 to 90 percent of the total Makhana production of India is produced in the state of Bihar.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour and Indian Packaging Institute for marketing and branding of Makhana at the global level. The purpose is to make the nutritional and medicinal properties of Makhana reach the masses. For this, techniques like digital marketing, geo tagging, modern processing unit etc. will be used. This will increase the confidence of the farmers and guarantee a fair price on the marketing of the products. Apart from this, some mechanism can be developed to determine the minimum support price (MSP) for Makhana so that the exploitation of Makhana producers by traders can be stopped. On this auspicious occasion, the newly constructed auditorium in the college campus has also been inaugurated today, which has a total seating capacity of 300 persons, so that such programs can be organized more successfully in the future.
Dr. Sanjay Kumar Singh, Deputy Director General Horticultural Science, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, in his address said that the world is now recognizing our ancient food items as the best food items of the future, because these food items are rich in medicinal properties along with nutrition. The biggest thing is that Makhana is grown in waterlogged areas. Where the use of chemical fertilizers is negligible. Thus, it has made its mark on the world stage as a natural food medicine.
Dr. Vishwa Bandhu Patel, Assistant Director General Crops and Plantation Crops, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, in his address, while discussing the problems and potential of the waterlogged areas of the country, said that there is a need to work on research and development centered planning of aquaculture. Cultivation of water chestnut along with Makhana is quite profitable.
Shri Vijay Prakash, former Agriculture Production Commissioner, Government of Bihar, IAS and Director, Bihar Vidyapeeth, Patna, Principal Dr. Paras Nath, Professor (Agriculture) Dr. Ajay Kumar Sah and Director Extension Education Dr. R. Of. Sohane discussed the marketing and branding of Makhana in detail.
Earlier, the cadets of 35 Bihar Battalion NCC, Purnia presented the Guard of Honour to the Hon’ble Vice Chancellor, Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour, Dr. D. R. Singh. After successfully receiving the Guard of Honour, all the cadets related to the Guard of Honour were presented gifts by the Hon’ble Vice Chancellor. After that, a floral tribute was paid to the statue of late Bhola Paswan Shastri ji.
Scientists, entrepreneurs, etc. from other states of the country also participated in this national conference. Dr. R. N. Dutta, retired Joint Director, Central Silk Board, Government of India, Dr. Ramnikant Thakuria, Principal Scientist, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, Assam, Dr. Vinod Kumar Gupta, retired, Principal Scientist and Chairman, National Makhana Research Center, Darbhanga, Dr. Indu Shekhar Singh, Principal Scientist, National Makhana Research Center, Darbhanga, Dr. Vidya Nath Jha, retired Principal, LMSM College, Darbhanga, Dr. Sanjeev Kumar, Principal, VMS College, Supaul, Dr. Rajesh Kumar, former Director, Student Welfare, Bihar Agricultural University, Bhagalpur, Dr. J. N. Shrivastava, Director Student Welfare, Bihar Agricultural University, Bhagalpur, Dr. Revati Raman Singh, Former Dean (Agriculture), Bihar Agricultural University, Bhagalpur, Dr. P.K. Singh, E.K.S. Raman, E. Pradeep Kaushal, besides scientists from various universities, colleges, institutes of the country, as well as research students, representatives from various states related to the Makhana industry participated.
On this occasion, other scientists of the college, Dr. Jarnadan Prasad, Dr. Pankaj Kumar Yadav, Dr. N.K. Sharma, Dr. Tapan Gorai, Dr. Ruby Saha, Dr. Radheshyam, Dr. Suraj Prakash, Dr. Ashish Ranjan, Dr. Macha Uday Kumar, Dr. Pankaj Kumar Mandal, Dr. Vikas Kumar and employees Kelas Mandal, Shravan Kumar, Chandamani Chaudhary etc. provided active cooperation. On this occasion, graduate agriculture students of the college, Ashish Kumar Thakur, Vivek, Jayant, Aditya, Vivekanand, Hariom, Naman, Abhiram, Hrithik, Deepak Kumar, Mrityunjay Kumar, Prince, Sundaram, Piyush, Chandan Kumar along with girl students, Anjana, Shalini, Preeti, Nidhi, Akshaya, Rashmi Bala etc. participated enthusiastically.
The program was jointly conducted by Dr. Rubi Saha and Dr. Vikas Kumar and the vote of thanks was given by Makhana scientist Dr. Anil Kumar.
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