ICAR-Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad, organized a “Kisan Mela” on 09th November, 2024 under SC Sub-Plan. The Kisan Mela programme was held at Chindanur Village, Chincholi Taluka, Kalaburagi District, Karnataka.

The Chief Guest, Dr. V. K. Singh, Director, ICAR-CRIDA inaugurated a permanent display board at Chindanur village. Then drone demonstration was done for controlling pod borers in pigeonpea crop. Custom Hiring Centre (CHC) established was inaugurated by the chief guest followed by that fruit saplings were planted at some of the beneficiary farmers’ fields. After that, the chief guest has inaugurated the exhibitions stalls where CRIDA technologies were showcased. Later, he has addressed the farmers and emphasized various interventions made under SCSP.

In his address, he has highlighted various rainfed technologies. During the programme, Dr. T. V. Prasad, Principal Scientist & Nodal Officer, SCSP highlighted the interventions under SCSP and requested the farmers to cooperate with the team to get maximum benefit out of the plan. Then, Smt. Anasuya Hugar, Deputy Director of Agriculture (DDA), Chincholi appreciated the efforts of CRIDA team.

Shri. Veershetty Rathod, Assistant Director of Agriculture (ADA) highlighted various schemes of state department and Shri. Imran Ali, Agriculture Officer (AO) about the safety measures to be taken during agricultural operations. Dr. V. Maruthi, Principal Scientist briefed about the cropping system interventions, Dr. K. Sreedevi Shankar, Principal Scientist on the importance of millets and its value addition, Dr. K. S. Reddy, Principal Scientist about the six-row planters, Dr. P. K. Pankaj, Principal Scientist on livestock management in dryland ecosystem.

Then Dr. Savitha, Scientist explained about biofertilizer application, Dr. Suvana, Scientist about soil health management, Er. Ashish stressed on role of farm mechanization in the context of shortage of agricultural labour, Dr. Jagriti Rohit, Scientist about group formation and its advantages and Dr. Anshida Beevi, scientist about the training programmes conducted and requested the farmers to attend the future training programs.

Later, Director has distributed biofertilizers, fruit saplings, Zinc Sulphate and mineral mixtures to the beneficiaries. After that, Director, ICAR-CRIDA along with team members monitored various interventions under SCSP. About 200 farmers from the SCSP adopted villages participated in the programme.