Importance of crop nutrition stressed at agri fair

Increasing farm productivity should not be the only criterion; providing balanced nutrition for the crop is equally essential, said Dr Rahul Mirchandani, National Chair, International Relations, Partnerships and Next Practices, Young Indians

Dr Mirchandani, who is also the Executive Director of Aries Agro was here at the 8th edition of Agromax 2011, organised by Yi in association with the Confederation of Indian Industry at the Kumaraguru College of Technology.

Urging farmers to engage themselves in best practices, he said ‘crop nutrition is where it all starts. Quality seeds coupled with best farm practices would help maximise land yield levels. Today, the challenge is in enhancing productivity to feed every single Indian. And to achieve this, there is a need to grow the right kind of crop.’

‘You need not know or do what is best in the US or Europe. We need to practice what is best for our country,’ he told the farmers, who had gathered in large numbers from Namakkal, Erode, Pollachi, Mettupalayam, Udumalpet and so on.

When a lady, aged 95, drew Dr Mirchandani’s attention to the fact that it was becoming increasingly difficult to find brides for young agriculturists, he said ‘farming is a more remunerative proposition than IT, provided each of you connect with the others in the group, with farm Varsity experts to get the right farm management techniques and goes for the right crop.’

The Director of Research at TNAU Dr Paramathma said that 40 per cent of young Indians were running away from agriculture and 60 per cent of agriculturists children did not look to agriculture as an occupation. People are willing to travel long distances to work in a factory rather than work in the field, he observed.

The Director further pointed out that the yield levels were dropping because farmers did not give much importance to soil testing and increased use of chemical fertilisers was telling on soil fertility.

He urged the farmers to take cue from a young grower in Hosur, who meticulously followed the advise given by experts and earned enough to buy a Bolero. ‘His holding was just one acre; he harvested Brinjal, and from the returns bought the car,’ he said.

The Wholetime Director of Rajshree Sugars and Chemicals Mr R Varadarajan said without food, it would be impossible to survive and advocated the need for collective efforts in farming. ‘We cannot afford to import food to feed all the people in this country. There is therefore an urgent need to come together and be involved in farming activities.’

When issues were raised about the acute shortage of farm labour, he said ‘mechanisation is the answer. Today, with the disintegration in land holding, farm implements would have to be suitably re-designed for the purpose and the idea for such implements/ tools would have to emanate from the user group.’

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