Port Blair, Oct 16: To commemorate the founding of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) along with the world, this year also “World Food Day” was organized in the conference hall of Zonal Agriculture Office, Goalghar on 16th October’2015. The theme for this year was “ Social Protection and Agriculture: Breaking the cycle of Rural Poverty”.
The chief guest on this occasion was Smt R. Menaka, Secretary (Agri) and the Guest of Honour were Smt Sahay Mary, Pradhan, Humphrygunj, Smt Appalnarsimha, Pradhan Guptapara and Shri Mahadev Majhi, Pradhan, Collinpur. Dr. G. S. Pandey, Director of Agriculture welcomed the gathering and enlightened the importance of World Food Day.
Addressing the gathering, Smt R. Menaka, Secretary (Agri) briefed about the social protection provided to the rural populace and urged PRI to co-operate for successful implementation of various schemes of the department. The newly elected Pradhans of different Panchayat shared their opinion and urged the department to implement more schemes of agriculture and allied sectors for the uplift of rural community. Dr. Pradeep Singh, Joint Director (Agri) also spoke on the occasion.
During the technical session, Shri L. B. Singh, SMS, KVK, CIARI detailed the farmers about the ways of income generation. Shri S. K. Mondal, PPO, CIPMC asked the youth to be self sufficient in organic farming. Smt Suma Sreedharan, Demonstration Officer, Food and Nutrition Department appealed the farmers to maintain their health by consuming nutritious fruits and vegetables in their daily diet. She also conducted a quiz programme for the farmers and distributed prizes to the winners.
Later, Shri Ram Moorthy, Retd. Agriculture Officer shared his experiences in organic farming. The vote of thanks was proposed by Shri R. Y. Singh, Assistant Director (Agri), South Andaman. More than 100 participants including PRIs and staff of Agriculture Department were present during the programme.
