‘Need to take advanced tech & nutritious farming to farmers’

Varanasi: A Kisan Mela cum agricultural exhibition was organised on Wednesday at the Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kallipur under the Government of India-sponsored Biotech Kisan Project, run under the joint aegis of the Foundation for Advancement of Agriculture and Rural Development (FFARD) and the Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, Varanasi.
Speaking at the inaugural function, UP agriculture minister Surya Pratap Shahi said that due to advanced technology, the country is moving towards self-sufficiency in food grains production as well as exports. The use of unbalanced chemicals and the situation arising from the falling ground water level is a matter of concern, he said, adding, “We need to take advanced technology to the farmers along with nutritious farming”.
The minister said that all 83 Krishi Vigyan Kendras of Uttar Pradesh are being developed as models. The commendable work done by the FFARD in collaboration with the Biotech Kisan Project of Government of India in Varanasi, Ghazipur, Sonbhadra and Chandauli districts of Purvanchal is exemplary, he said appreciating the efforts made by the FFARD in the direction of making the farmers self-dependent.
The FFARD president and noted agricultural scientist, Prof Panjab Singh said, “We have gone ahead in agricultural production, now there is a need to provide better income to the farmers for their produce”.
In the last three years, FFARD worked hard towards empowering farmers through the Biotech Kisan Project in four districts -Chandauli, Ghazipur, Varanasi and Sonbhadra and it has yielded encouraging results, he said, adding that efforts were also made to increase the participation of women in agriculture. Increasing the participation of women in Farmers Producers Companies will also increase agricultural income, he added.