ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (ICAR-IIHR), Bengaluru organized online Farmers Awareness Campaigns on “Balanced Use of Fertilizers” on 18.06.2021. This campaign was organized as per the directive received from Natural Resource Management (NRM) division of ICAR. The main objective of this programme was to impart knowledge on balance use of fertilisers to the stakeholders, especially the farmers.
The programme started with the welcome address by Dr R. Venkattakumar, Principal Scientist and Head (I/c), Division of Social Sciences and Training, ICAR-IIHR, Bengaluru, who highlighted the objectives of the training. He welcomed the Director, ICAR-IIHR, Dr BNS Murthy and the expert, Dr A N Ganeshamurthy, Emeritus Scientist, ICAR-IIHR, Bengaluru, the farmers and other stakeholders, who joined the programme.
Dr BNS Murthy formally inaugurated the programme and briefed the importance of such training programmes. He spoke a wide range of current issues related to balanced use of fertilizers neem seed coated urea, residue free management, bioavailability of nutrients, pH balance of soil for appropriate nutrient uptake etc. He advocated all the farmers to utilize this opportunity to enrich their knowledge and play a proactive role in the balance use of fertilizers and take forward the balance use of fertilizers.
Then, the expert of the programme Dr A N Ganeshamurthy, spoke on wide range of the subjects covering all the essential aspects of ‘Balanced Use of Fertililsers’. He stressed on avoiding indiscriminate use of fertilizers. He stressed upon optimum use of Phosphorus and Potassium fertilizers, as misuse of the same leads to higher input cost followed by import burden and also leads to soil pollution. With respect to Karnataka, he opined that there is a lot of Magnesium deficiency issues observed in horticultural crops, especially, grapes, pomegranate etc., which needs to be tackled in a systematic way. He stressed on the role and importance of micronutrients and 4R’s viz., Right source, right time, right place, right quantity of fertilsers need to be used to ensure healthy soil, environment and plant.
Then, Dr. H B Raghupathy, Principal Scientist and Head (I/c), Division of Natural Resources, ICAR-IIHR discussed about soil and plant testing in horticultural crops. He covered in detail about various nutrient deficiency symptoms and remedial measures for the use of farmers.
Dr Kalaivanan, Scientists, Division of Natural Resources, ICAR-IIHR spoke on soil sampling methods in various crops viz., vegetables, perennial fruit crops, grasslands etc. He emphasized on following standard soil sampling, packing and labeling. He also shown the video on soil sampling method.
A total of 125 participants attended the training programme. Farmers from two FPOs and one NGO also participated. Followed by lectures, there was a discussion session to solve the queries of the farmers and other participants. Farmers got solved their queries on soil health monitoring, organic carbon content and its management, depth for taking soil samples for different crops. The trainees were very happy about the content, presentations and knowledge imparted during the training programme and they have expressed their satisfaction towards participation in the awareness programme.
Mr Atheequlla G A, Scientist from the Division of Social Sciences and Training, ICAR-IIHR proposed a formal vote of thanks for the inauguration session. This online training programme was coordinated by Mr Atheequlla G A, Scientist, Division of Social Science and Training and Dr D Kalaivanan, Scientist, Division of Social Sciences and Training, ICAR-IIHR, Bengaluru.
