Port Blair, Mar 09: To celebrate the achievements of women and to understand and resolve the problems faced by them, every year International Women’s Day is celebrated across the globe. Women Cell of ICAR-Central Island Agricultural Research Institute, Port Blair also celebrated the day with the theme “Women Leadership in Agriculture: Entrepreneurship, Equity and Empowerment” on March 8, 2021. The event started with webcast of virtual programme conducted by the ICAR headquarters. Dr. Pooja Bohra, in charge, Women’s Cell welcomed the gathering and briefed about the objective of conducting Women’s Day. Dr. B.A. Jerard, Director (Act.), gave a brief overview of Institute technologies developed for women farmers and urged them to take up diverse entrepreneurship options for improving their income. Three women farmers/entrepreneurs involved in high density black pepper production, fish processing, vermicompost production, poultry and mushroom production were invited and felicitated. These entrepreneurs shared their valuable experiences with the participants. Winners of essay and painting competitions held online for school and college students were awarded on the occasion. As a token of promotion of agricultural entrepreneurship in the islands, planting material of fruits was distributed to the participants. Participants included farmers, Institute staff and school & college students.
During the event, an exhibition of Institute technologies developed for the women farmers and entrepreneurs was organized. Exhibition was inaugurated by the Director. Technologies included value added products from endemic underutilized fruits and spices, semi-intensive production models for urban and peri-urban horticulture, horticultural nursery production, processed products from fish waste, low cost fish feed, biodegradable nursery containers, tri-modal therapy for hump sore treatment etc. apart from products exhibited by the local self-help groups. All the participants actively engaged in discussions with the scientists presenting the technologies and young entrepreneurs showed interest in taking up these ventures.
