AAU delegates get insight on agriculture trends, seed sys

Varanasi: Aimed to foster learning opportunities and to strengthen existing linkages related to interventions of the ongoing Assam Agri business and Rural Transformation Project (APART) in Assam, a three-day visit of senior scientists and extension personnel from Assam Agricultural University (AAU) was organized at the International Rice Research Institute’s South Asia Regional Centre (IRRI-SARC), Varanasi, from May 11 to13.
The delegates from AAU interacted with the scientists of the ISARC on the recent trends of precision agriculture, GIS, mechanization, post harvest management and seed systems. The delegation team included HoDs of various departments of AAU, senior scientists, principal scientists and heads of Krishi Vigyan Kendras of Assam. While interacting with the delegates, ISARC director, Sudhanshu Singh highlighted the need for crop intensification of rice fallows of Assam in order to increase the cropping intensity. “IRRI team will soon start working on a policy paper on crop intensification and rice-fallow to take this forward in order to harness the rice-fallow areas in Assam,” he said.
Sharing his experience of the visit, Kalyan Pathak, the head of the department of Agronomy, AAU said, “During this three-day exposure visit to the ISARC, we have had the opportunity to observe various technologies being implemented in rice science.”