Gandhwani: Gandhwani MLA Umang Singhar flagged off Krishi Kranti Rath to mark the opening of ambitious Krishi Mahotsav here on Saturday. The grand agriculture fest will continue till May 2.
The opening ceremony was chaired by district panchayat member Karan Rawat. Municipal council president Kamla Dharve, tehsildar Hitendra Bhavsar, chief executive officer Yogendra Singh Jat, block education officer Veer Singh Rajput, Krishi Kranti Rath in charge Dileep Kanesh and others were present on the occasion.
Agricultural extension officer HS Dawar said that the programme was aimed at educating people about agriculture and related professions like fish farming and horticulture. Direct engagement of scientists with the campaign further would facilitate technological improvements and thus increase productivity and profit, he added.
All the farmers are requested to be a part of this drive and get the maximum benefit of shared knowledge, said board president Suraj Baghel while addressing the event.
The chariot (truck decorated with educative panel models and fitted with Global Positioning System) comprising a team, including one officer each from animal husbandry, horticulture and fisheries department, would visit two villages per day where it will show a short film educating villagers about various government schemes, followed by a seminar to further grasp the knowledge.
The programme would conclude with distribution of farming materials and inauguration of new projects in the presence of various administrative officials and workers. Notably, Madhya Pradesh is already a pioneer in production of pulses, oilseeds and gram, having won prestigious Krishi Karman Award for last two years in a row, besides Agriculture Leadership Award in 2012. With such potentiality in store, Krishi Mahotsav is hoped to provide further boost in agro economy of the state.
Considering the hype and hullabaloo over the campaign, it would be curious to see if this ‘Krishi Kranti’ could match or even outperform the first ‘Green Revolution’ in India, which by overcoming poor agricultural productivity, fetched a massive increase in yields due to improved agronomic technology, especially in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in the early 1960s. The major development of the time was higher-yielding varieties of wheat, which were developed by many scientists, including American agronomist Dr Norman Borlaug and Indian geneticist MS Swaminathan.
Manawar: Manawar MLA and BJP leader Ranjana Baghel on Saturday inaugurated Krishi Mahotsav and flagged off Krishi Kranti Rath here in the town. Addressing the programme, Baghel said that “State government is emphasising on new innovation in the field of agriculture to make it a profitable business. For this, we are encouraging horticulture, setting up soil testing labs, improving access to irrigation, ensuring timely availability of seeds, fertilizers and adequate availability of power and providing more access to credit to farmers among other activities.” BJP district vice-president Rameshwar Patidar, agriculture scientist Sumit Verma and SDM Harsh Singh were among others present on the occasion. A ‘gram sabha’ (village meeting) was also organised here at Khandlai and Borlaya village under the ongoing ‘Gram Uday se Bharat Uday’ campaign on Saturday.
