Nagaland chief minister, TR Zeliang, has reiterated the need of a Central Agriculture University in Nagaland in order to enhance productivity in agricultural and horticultural crops for meeting the growing demand.
Addressing the inaugural function of a three-day national seminar on ‘Sustainable Horticulture vis-à-vis Changing Environment’ Thursday morning at SASRD auditorium, Zeliang recalled that the state government, had in the past, sent a proposal to the government of India for setting up a Central Agriculture University in Nagaland.
He suggested that, to begin with, the present SASRD campus and the Central Institute of Horticulture at Medziphema could initially be utilized as a campus for the proposed agriculture university. (It may also be pointed out that SASRD campus initially had around 2000 acres over which the agriculture university was proposed to be set up. Somehow, for reasons unknown, Nagaland again missed the opportunity when the agriculture university finally ended up in Manipur.)
On horticulture, Zeliang said it has the potential to meet the need for food, nutrition and healthcare besides providing better returns on farm land and better opportunity for employment.
He said there has been increased demands for horticultural produce because of greater health awareness, rising income and increasing population. In this regard, Zeliang horticulture sector was faced with the challenge to increase productivity to meet the growing demands.
He however said that the problem was more challenging in the context of the changing environment, decline in land and water availabilities and the threat posed by climate change. In this regard, he said the task before the horticulture sector to achieve a targeted production of 340 million tons of crops by the end of the 12th Year Plan was huge.
Zeliang emphasized on preserving the fragile eco-system of the Himalayan region, particularly the north east by promoting horticulture in a big way so as to reduce areas under jhum cultivation. He said migration from jhuming practice to permanent horticulture farming in the hills could also bring better returns to farmers.
He said that since there was growing concerns about sustainability in all aspects of farming due to changing environment and climate change, horticulture too needed to be made sustainable. The chief minister explained that this meant horticulture also needed to become ‘climate smart’ .
He has stressed on the need on the study of climate change on horticultural crops and address it in a concerted and systematic manner by introducing the much needed innovations.
While noting that many key areas were covered for deliberation in the seminar, Zeliang also expressed the hope to see positive outcomes and recommendations which could be a basis for some important policy decision.
Keynote address was delivered by Dr. AK Singh, Managing Director of National Horticulture Board; while short speeches were also delivered by N Benjamin Newmai, Secretary of Horticulture, and Prof. N.S. Jamir, PVC, SASRD, NU.
In the subsequent sessions of the three-day seminar, many eminent personalities from different parts of the country will speak on issues such as ‘Crop diversity, crop improvement and bio-technological approaches in horticultural crops,’ ‘Farming system – Impact on climate change,’ ‘Advances in production technology of fruits and plantation crops,’ ‘Advances in production technology of vegetable and spices,’ ‘Advances in production technology of floriculture, aromatic and medical plant,’ ‘Crop care and protection,’ ‘Post harvest, value addition and marketing of horticultural crops,’ and ‘Entrepreneurship and human resource development in horticulture.’