Sri G. S. Basavaraju, Honourable Member of Parliament (MP), Tumakuru, Karnataka inaugurated the Seed Vending Machine at ICAR-IIHR Sub Centre, Hirehalli, Tumakuru district, Karnataka 3rd November, 2020. In his inaugural address, highlighted the importance of hybrid seeds and adoption of technologies developed by ICAR-IIHR, Bengaluru for getting higher income. He also stressed that Scientists of the Institute are striving hard for the benefit of the farmers selflessly and advocated farmers to make use of these technologies as it benefit them. Dr M. R. Dinesh, Director, ICAR-IIHR, Bengaluru, who presided over the function, briefed the audience about the innovative seed dispensing mechanism adopted by the Institute such as Seed Portal and Seed Vending Machine for the wider reach across India of quality hybrid and HYV seeds developed by the Institute for enhancing the productivity and profitability of the vegetable farmers. Sri Shiva Prasad and Dr M.S. Prabhakar, Members of Institute Management Committee (IMC) also epressed their experiences with farmers regarding the various activities and advised the farmers to visit ICAR-IIHR, Bengaluru to get the benefits from the technologies of the Institute.
Under Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) programme, Seed Vending Machine was installed for the benefit of tribal and other vegetable farmers of Tumakuru district, which is one of the selected districts for implementation of TSP programme. Dr D. Sreenivasa Murthy, Principal Scientist and Nodal Officer, TSP programme welcomed the guests and highlighted the varieties and hybrids developed by the Institute. Dr Yogeesh, Principal Scientist and Nodal Officer (Seeds) briefly explained the utility of Seed Vending Machine and also informed about the Seed-Village progamme adopted by the Institute for the production of quality hybrid and HYV seeds.
Dr Karunakaran, Principal Scientist and Head, ICAR-IIHR Sub Centre, Hirehalli proposed the vote of thanks for all the participants.
Heads of Divisions of ICAR-IIHR, Bengaluru, I/C PME Cell, Head, KVK and staff of the Hirehalli station, press persons and other visitors participated in the function. More importantly more than 50 farmers from Tumakuru district also participated in the inaugural function.
