Discussions were held on to include the medicinal and aromatic plants in the integrated farming system to enhance the farmer’s livelihood and equitable utilisation of the farm resources

Dr GR Chintala, Chairman, National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (NABARD) along with the Regional Officers visited the ICAR-Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur, Rajasthan.

The chairman visited the institute’s research farm showcasing several state-of-the-art experiments on the integrated farming system (IFS), water harvesting for crop production, precision farming, gum garden, agri-voltaic system and Agri-Business Incubation Centre. He urged for including the medicinal and aromatic plants in the IFS to enhance the farmer’s livelihood and equitable utilisation of the farm resources. Dr Chintala applauded the institute’s efforts to improve the production technologies of fruit crops – ber, anar and date palm.

On his visit to the precision farming block fully equipped with the automated drip and fertigation system for efficient water management and facilitate precise use of nutrients, the Chairman was depicted the polyhouse-based vegetable production system having grafting technique for cultivation of cucumber, tomato and capsicum.

Dr Chintala was also demonstrated the ongoing experiment using Thermocol Ball Technique used for reducing the water evaporation from diggies or small farm ponds. The commercial utilisation of the newly developed carrier for the production of microbial cultures for use at the farm level was apprised to the Chief Guest.

In his address, the chairman stated about the high priority of the NABARD in dairy farming, conservation agriculture and post-harvest technologies. He stressed disseminating the benefits of research to the farmers.

Earlier, in his welcome address, Dr OP Yadav, Director, ICAR-CAZRI, Jodhpur, Rajasthan apprised the Chief Guest about the institute’s achievements.