Port Blair, Feb 23: The Union Territory Agriculture Technology Management Agency (UTATMA), Diglipur in association with the Department of Agriculture, Diglipur organized a two days training programme on “Preparation and uses of various Organic inputs including compost, Bio fertilizer and Bio pesticides” at Nischintapur village under Gram Panchayat Kalighat at Diglipur Block on 21st & 22nd February, 2025.
Nischintapur village is one of the remotest village under Gram Panchayat Kalighat where 16 farmers were settled during the year 1955-56 and 2.02 ha land allotted to each farmers which is now divided into approximately 42 family.
During the training programme, Smti Arti Singh, Assistant Director (Agri), Diglipur welcomed the gathering and briefed about the importance of using various Organic inputs including Vermicompost, Farm Yard Manure, Bio fertilizers and Bio pesticides for organic cultivation of crops which is being promoted for Organic Farming. She also briefed about the Scope and importance of Organic farming and Natural farming in the present scenario in view of the ill effects of chemical fertilizer and pesticides to human being and environment.
Further, she elaborated the importance of using cowdung, Neem leaves and cow urine which was used since ancient time and now with the use of same, Biopesticides formulation like Neemashtra, Jeevamrit is prepared for sustainable agriculture.
During the training, the method of preparation of Vermicompost, techniques of mass multiplication of Earthworms and method of its application was briefed to the farmers. Earthworm being the friend of farmer, its role in improving the soil fertility was detailed. As vermicomposting is an eco-friendly process that recycles organic waste into nutrient –rich, being healthy compost, the participants were motivated to produce vermicompost from organic waste available in their farms and kitchen and use it in their farms for quality production. The method of vermicomposting using Vermibed being supplied by the Department on 20% subsidy and the precautions to be taken while preparation of vermicompost was also briefed by Smti Seena Pillai, Agriculture Officer(I/c).
The importance and uses of various bio fertilizers/ bio pesticides supplied by the Department and its method of application were also detailed among the participants of the training programme by Smti Kamrun Nisa, Agriculture Assistant. The farmers are practicing Natural Farming and only using Cow dung as manure for the crops they are cultivating. Later on Hands- on demonstration was given to the participants on preparation of Neemashtra, Jeevamrit and Vermicomposting in the presence of farmers by Mr. Riktik Baroi, JAA and Mr. Satinder Prasad, AFA.
The farmers were motivated for undertaking processing of perishable fruits and vegetables as the farmers are facing difficulty in marketing due to lack of proper road connectivity as the existing katcha road is 9.0 km away from main road of Madhyamgram village and approximately 2.0 km away from Kalighat jetty. It was assured to provide training on processing of the fruits to the 3 nos. of SHG of Nischintapur.
Also promoted the farmers for registering in the Departmental market outlet-VATIKA at Sri Vijaya Puram for selling the value added products produced by them after learning the process through the training to be provided for their socio economic upliftment. The training concluded by providing input to the 20 farmers participating in the training programme for utilizing to prepare Bio-pesticides formulations.
