BHUBANESWAR, India— More than 10,000 people, mostly farmers, attended an agriculture fair that featured various machinery and technologies for boosting Odisha’s agriculture sector. The machinery and technologies are part of the strategy for attaining sustainable intensification of agricultural systems being promoted by the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA).
Sustainable intensification is an approach that uses advanced technologies to produce more food while using fewer natural resources. To achieve these goals, CSISA identifies and adapts promising technologies for local farming systems to build up and diversify agricultural production systems in impoverished areas.
The technical know-how and benefits of SI technologies such as direct seeded rice, laser land leveling, nursery management, mechanical transplanting of rice, improved maize cultivation, and integrated weed management and mechanical weeding were explained to visiting farmers at the CSISA booth.
A demonstration of the various machines and equipment on display, which includes zero-till seed-cum-fertilizer drill, maize sheller, power weeder, power sprayer, multi-nozzle booms, fertilizer spreader, nursery seeder, among others, were conducted. Information materials were also distributed.
Odisha Governor Senayangba Chubatoshi Jamir; Mr. Naveen Patnaik, chief minister of Odisha; Mr. Pradeep Maharathi, agriculture minister; and other ministers and senior government officials of Odisha attended the event.
The agri-fair, held in Bhubaneswar on 10-13 April, was organized by Institute on Management of Agricultural Extension and the Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare of the Government of Odisha.
