The 91st Institute Management Committee (IMC) meeting of ICAR-IIHR was held at ICAR- KVK, Gonikoppal under the Chairmanship of Dr M R Dinesh, Director, on 17th December 2019. Shri G.G Harakangi, Chief Administrative Officer and Member Secretary, IMC welcomed the chairman and all the members to the meeting. The Director gave a brief on the achievements made in research and extension in the institute for the period July to December 2019. Shri. G.G Harakangi presented the proceedings of the last IMC meeting.
The following IMC members were present in the meeting; Dr. T.K. Behera, Professor & Principal Scientist, Division of Vegetable Science, ICAR-IARI, New Delhi, Dr. Markandey Singh, Principal Scientist, Division of Floriculture & Landscaping, ICAR-IARI, Shri S. Shivaprasad and Dr. M.S. Prabhakar. Shri Sudhakar Rao, Principal Scientist and PME member, Dr. L.K. Bharathi, Principal Scientist and Head, CHES, Chettalli, Dr. Saju George, Principal Scitentist and Head, KVK Kodagu and Shri K.G. Jagadeeshan, FAO, ICAR-IIHR were present as special invitees in the meeting.
Dr. Sudhakar Rao presented the salient achievements of the institute. Dr. Saju George presented the significant achievements of the KVK Gonikoppal. Ongoing activities of CHES, Chettalli were presented by Dr. L K Bharathi. Mr Kariappa, Vice President, Puthari Farmers Producer Organization made a brief presentation on the activities of the FPO.
Before commencement of the meeting, the committee members visited the Puthari, FPO and interacted with the Board of Directors about the role played by the FPO for the benefit of the farmers, and the support and coordination they are getting from KVK. Then the committee visited the AMC Lab, Spawn production unit and RTF Bag unit, Soil Testing Lab of KVK Gonikoppal and interacted with the staff. After the meeting, the IMC members visited the KVK Farm and were given a first hand information on the progress of farm activities In the afternoon, the members visited the farmers field where Pepper was grown as a monoblock and AMC was regularly used for the plant health management. The IMC members appreciated the research and extension achievements made by ICAR-IIHR in the last 6 months. The members were particularly appreciative of the role played by the Puthari FPO and the support given by the KVK in the grooming of the FPO.
