Punjab’s NABARD officers attend meeting to promote horticulture

The sixth bi-monthly meeting of the District Development Managers (DDM) of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) began today at the Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry (UHF), Nauni. The Punjab Regional Office of the bank in association with the Directorate of Extension Education of the university organized the meeting. Twenty-five DDM from Punjab attended the two-day meet and learnt about the possibilities of horticulture in their state from the university scientists. The meeting is part of the bank’s initiative to expose their officers to the advancements and opportunities in horticulture and allied disciplines so that they can promote the schemes associated with it among farmers. During the meet, the university scientists will be addressing the participants on various topics and apprise them on the various activities being done by the university. Dr Hari Sharma, UHF Vice-Chancellor; Dr Vijay Singh Thakur, Director Extension Education; JPS Bindra, CGM, Mithleshwar Jha, DGM along with the university scientists attended the inaugural session of the meeting. Speaking on the occasion, JPS Bindra explained the working of NABARD and the role played by DDMs as the grassroots functionaries. While stressing on the need for diversification of agriculture, he said that area under horticulture and forestry in Punjab is quite less. Dr Vijay Singh Thakur, Director of Extension Education lauded the role played by NABARD in the upliftment of agriculture and infrastructural development. Dr Thakur was the view that there was a need to focus on the production of good quality food items. Calling for making agriculture a respectable profession among the people especially the youth, Dr HC Sharma emphasized on involving modern technology to effectively communicate with the farmers. He said that there was a need for policy interventions for the planned utilization of agriculture produce for consumption and processing. He said that bank through its field officers should play a larger role in promoting simple interventions like solar drying of excess food produce and focus on producing export quality food products. Dr Sharma added that more efforts were required for the promotion of water conservation methods and maximizing the water use efficiency through modern farming technologies. As part of the meeting, the delegates also attended technical lectures on hi-tech floriculture, natural farming and beekeeping and also visited the fields of the university.