Around 800 farmers from 28 districts in the State have converged at the farm varsity here to attend the two-day event titled Áttracting and Reviving Youth in Agriculture.

This is the second phase of the workshop organised by M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) in association with Shanthi Ashram and 'the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University to commemorate the National Youth Day.

The first phase was kicked off at Srirangam about a year ago. The programme is focused on drawing youth to agriculture.

Delivering the special address, Kezevino Aram, Director, Shanthi Ashram, urged the participants to focus on improving nutritional security.

"Food security is not an issue today, but nutritional security definitely is and this issue has to be addressed on a war-footing, as one in every three infants born today weigh less than 2.5 kg at birth and are under-nourished.''

Vice-Chancellor of TNAU K Ramasamy, in his key-note address, advised farmers not to give up their land holding at any cost. "Do not be lured by money; only you (read farmers) can wipe out hunger. With shrinking land and depleting water resource coupled with rising input costs, farming can be a challenging proposition.''

"This can no doubt be overcome by imbibing technological tools and making farming practices a profitable one,'' he said and called upon the farmers to use the resources at the farm varsity to up their practice.

Principal Scientist of MSSRF N Parasuraman said that the foundation is in the process of setting up a national farmers' commission in every district in the State.

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