Agriculture News: Training Sessions for Agricultural Input Dealers

Rourkela: In Sundargarh district, a 48-week-long educative programme was launched to train agricultural input dealers in becoming para-extension professionals, in order to give a boost to agricultural extension services.

The Centre has made it compulsory for input dealers to learn about the basics of agriculture and guide the farmers on better cultivation practices, with a view to bring a paradigm shift in agriculture sector.

The Agriculture department implemented the Diploma In Agriculture Extension Services for Input Dealers (DAESI) programme under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikash Yojana (RKVY) in association with Hyderabad-based National Institute of Agriculture Extension Management (MANAGE).

The programme was inaugurated by Deputy Director of Agriculture (DDA) and Project Director of Agriculture Technology Management Agency, K N Mohapatra.

The programme will be conducted every week on Wednesday and will include 40 theory classes and eight practical classes. At least 40 input dealers with a minimum qualification of matriculation have enrolled for the course which costs Rs 20,000. While Rs 10,000 were deposited by the input dealers, the rest of the amount for each of them is provided from RKVY.

The programme will be an effective approach to strengthen the farm information delivery mechanism, as input dealers are the primary source of information for farmers. After completing this course, the input dealers can guide farmers on location-specific problems, judicious handling of agriculture inputs, farm laws, crop patterns and farm technologies.

The course aims at making the enrolled input dealers technically sound on topics like agro climatic condition, soil analysis, land use planning, integrated nutrient and pest management and crop production technologies covering horticulture, vegetable crops and floriculture. The course also covers relevant laws governing farm sector and soft skill development, including communication skill and basic knowledge of business management.

Knowledge about soil sampling, seed treatment, seed germination test and identification of pests, diseases and nutrient deficiencies will also give to input dealers.

Source: http://www.newindianexpress.com/