Training programme on drip irrigation, fertigation management

Ludhiana, June 26

A national training programme on ‘Drip irrigation and fertigation management’ was organised by the Centre of Advanced Agricultural Science and Technology School of Natural Resource Management for Sustainable Agriculture (CAAST-SNRM) under the auspices of World Bank-sponsored ICAR National Higher Education Project by PAU, Ludhiana, from June 15 to June 23.

On June 23, the concluding day of the training, a valedictory function was organised under the chairmanship of Dr BS Dhillon, Padma Shri Awardee and Vice-Chancellor, PAU, Ludhiana. Dr RC Agrawal, National Director, NAHEP, and DDG (Edu), ICAR, New Delhi, was the chief guest and Dr Prabhat Kumar, national coordinator, NAHEP-CAAST, ICAR, New Delhi, was the guest of honour.

Guest of honour Dr Prabhat Kumar congratulated the organisers of the training programme. He said more such trainings should be organised.

Dr RC Agrawal, who was chief guest, said: “Earlier, we could not have thought of imparting training to such a large group of stakeholders at one time. We have created opportunities out of challenges. As we have adapted the technology in our day to day life, similarly farmers will also have to adopt the state-of-the-art technologies for agriculture in future.” Dr Agrawal named it as fourth agricultural revolution.

Dr BS Dhillon, Padma Shri Awardee, in his address, spoke about the criticality of water as a resource and the need to use it very efficiently. He applauded the unique effort where all stakeholders, students, academia, industry professionals and farmers were on the same platform with the presence of a large number of participants from different parts of the country. He said: “With every new challenge, there is a new opportunity and in these Covid times, organising and conducting an online training programmes is one such opportunity.” Later, he congratulated the participants and the organisers. — TNS