VIT to Host Farm Expo from Today

VELLORE:  In an attempt to encourage Vellore and Tiruvannamalai farmers to use modern technology and thereby reap heavier returns, the VIT university is all set to host a two-day Farm Expo from Saturday.

The expo to be inaugurated by the state agriculture secretary Rajesh Lakhani is being organized by the Centre for Sustainable Rural Development and Research Education (CSRDRE) of the VIT University in association with the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development.

“The aim of the event is to make farmers feel proud of their profession while exposing them to new and cost effective technologies. Due to lack of resources and labourers, many farmers have lost interest in farming and are slowly migrating to other professions. Unless they are motivated to look at the better side of technology, we would lose generations of farmers,” said VIT vice-president G V Selvam.

According to him, the expo will have a display of modern equipment, fertilizers and pesticides, tractors, horticultural crops and vegetable seeds besides workshops on water management, soil-less agriculture, poultry farming, bee-keeping, drip irrigation, solar technology and food processing.

VIT chancellor G Viswanathan said that while the majority of India’s population is dependent on agriculture, the contribution of agriculture to the GDP (gross domestic product) of the country has gone down to 16%, due to various problems such as failure of monsoon and labour shortage. “We need to educate our farmers about modern technology available for various farming operations, which would go a long way in addressing the problem of labour shortage. The expo also has workshops on water management technology that would help them tide over water scarcity.

Tamil Maran, Project Director of CSRDRE said, “Manmohan Singh, a farmer from Punjab, who has converted 800 acres of fallow land into cultivable land in Ramanathapuram district using modern technology would be making a presentation on Saturday morning.

To ensure maximum participation of farmers, the organisers have arranged bus services for all the block headquarters in Vellore and Tiruvannamalai districts.

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The New Indian Express
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