Eco-friendly methods for profitable agriculture

Eco friendly methods are preferable than using more chemicals & fertilizers in agriculture to make it profitable, said National Institute of Plant Health Management, Director General Dr. K. Satya Gopal here on Thursday.

Speaking to the media at the NIPHM campus on the sidelines of ongoing national workshop cum exhibition on “Popularization and Commercialization of Low cost Agriculture Technologies”, he said that the by using traditional and eco friendly techniques, the problem arising out of insects can be curtailed.

There are some friendly insects around us, if the plants which attract these insects are grown around our fields, that can control the bad insects, he explained. We will provide necessary training in this regard, if anyone interested he added.

He cautioned the farmers on the high usage of pesticides. There are some low cost technologies available, NIPHM will be working as a platform to provide these to the farmers, he said. The ongoing workshop is working in this direction. Around 40-stalls with the agriculture scientists and farmers were setup here to provide the necessary information for the participation, he said.

Renewed institutions like IICT, ICRISAT, NIRD etc are also participating in the work shop. Mr. Gopal added that farmers in huge numbers participated in the workshop during the last two days. Some farmers were interseted to buy the instruments available here and efforts were being made to provide these with the government subsidy, he said.