Shri Udayan, a driver-turned-meliponiculturist, shows the way of enhancing the income by venturing into meliponiculture . Being a temporary driver with the KSRTC and earning a mere income of Rs. 7,000 per month, Shri Udayan found it to be very difficult to meet his expenditures.   Shri Udayan contacted the Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kasaragod to learn about the Indian bees keeping and explore the possibilities of starting the meliponiculture as a micro-enterprise. He found the venture to be really helpful for him as the venture required no additional land. As, the land was one of the major constraint for Shri Udayan to take up the agri-enterprises involving the cultivation of crops. He owns around 60 cents of land that is densely packed with the diversified crops, such as, coconut palms (37 nos.), pepper (97 nos.), banana, betel leaf, different types of vegetables along with a cow. So, in such a situation, Shri Udayan found beekeeping to be the best option as it could be...

Apple, being an important fruit crop of the mid-hills of Himachal Pradesh is currently covering an area of approximately 38,000 ha with the production of 499422 MT in Shimla District only. Traditionally, being known for producing the “Delicious” cultivars of apple, however, less proportion of pollinizer was used in apple orchard that resulted into lower productivity despite the increase in the area. The alternate bearing, low spur formation, less fruit set are also some of the problems that have been encountered by the growers. Further, the poor coloration at lower elevation and delayed maturity at higher elevation aggravated the problems under the climate change scenario that resulted into low productivity and profitability. With an aim to address these problems, the need for promoting the various self-pollinated/self-fruitful, spur type and other coloured strains for higher fruit yield and enhancing income was felt. Plan, implementation and testing While keeping the decline in...

The farmers of the District Udham Singh Nagar have been predominantly engaged in the paddy and wheat cultivation activities. They meet their economic needs mainly through the cultivation of summer rice, rice and wheat crops. The farmers of the District felt that the summer rice cultivation is not fruitful in the long term. Therefore, they wanted an alternate crop that can help in providing more income than the summer rice. The Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kashipur, explored the market status of the maize crop. The KVK found a huge demand for the maize processing in the district. As per an estimate, the industry requires about 1,200 tonnes / day maize for the processing of maize, preparation of baby food, corn sugar and other industrial production of starches, etc. Hence, keeping the farmers’ welfare and industrial demands of maize crop in mind, several discussions between Stakeholders, Chief Agriculture Officer (CAO), Officer Incharge, KVK, Kashipur, Scientists from GBPUAT,...

Time and again, it has been proven that with inspiration and courage, one can achieve great heights. Shyama Devi is one fine example of the same. She might now be a popular name among the women of her village, but she has faced her fair share of difficulties and struggles on her path to empowerment.   Life Full of Problems: Shyama belongs to the Village Fatehpur, Block Vikasnagar, District Dehradun. She is a house-wife, married to Shri Trilok Singh. Shyama lives in a village, where besides being uneducated, the women were not even allowed to step outside of their houses without their husband’s permission. The same was the case with Shyama, whose husband being a drunkard did not even earn enough money to fulfill the family’s basic needs. Being married to Shri Trilok out of her own will, Shyama’s family also did not turned up to support her financially. Then, came the time when Shri Trilok lost his job and everything seemed to fall apart for her family. The situation even...

28th February, 2019, New Delhi The Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi organized the 90th Annual General Meeting of the ICAR Society here at National Agricultural Science Centre Complex, New Delhi today. In his address, Shri Radha Mohan Singh, Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare applauded the construction of Bharat Ratna C. Subramaniam Auditorium at NASC Complex, New Delhi. The Minister mentioned that the newly build auditorium having a capacity to accommodate 1,200 persons at a time is equipped with all the modern world-class facilities. He further discussed that the auditorium is one of its kinds of state of the arts.       The Minister congratulated the ICAR for its 90th successful year. Accentuating the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision to double up the farmers’ income by the Year 2022, the Minister also lauded the ICAR’s various steps in the process of realizing the vision. The Minister also applauded the conferring of...