Organizing Roving Seminar for farmers in the ICAR-RC, Manipur Centre on 4th November, 2009:
FARMER’S AWARENESS PROGRAMME (ROVING SEMINAR)
Farmer’s awareness programme (Roving Seminar) was organized on 4th Nov., 2009 at ICAR-RC for
NEH Region, Manipur Centre, Lamphelpat as per guidelines given by The Ministry of Earth Sciences,
India Meteorological Department, New Delhi with Shri Ibomcha Laishram, Commissioner Commerce,
Industry, Vety. and Animal Husbandry as Chief Guest, Dr. Arunkumar, Professor, Department of Earth
Sciences, Manipur University, Canchipur and Dr. L. Nabachandra Singh, Professor & HOD, Department
of Agronomy, College of Agriculture, CAU, Imphal as Guest of Honour and Dr. N. Prakash, Joint
Director, ICAR-RC for NEH Region, Manipur Centre, Lamphelpat as President of the programme. Dr.
Shravan Kumar, Director, North-East Planning Commission, New Delhi, Shri Achouba Singh, DeputyDirector, Agriculture, Govt. of Manipur and Shri K. Ngachan, Director, Horticulture, Govt. of Manipur
graced the programme with their kind presence. Persons from media and press (Doordarshan, All India
Radio, Local Newspapers), NGO, PBI attended the programme. Altogether sixty farmers from ImphalWest, Imphal-East, Chandel, Ukhrul, Thoubal, Churachandpur and Tamenglong districts attended the
seminar.
Session I
In the Inaugural Session, after the arrival of Chief Guest, Dr. I. Meghachandra Singh, Scientist i/c
of IAAS, ICAR-RC, Manipur Centre gave the welcome address to all the invitees of the programme.
After this, Chief Guest of the function gave speech emphasizing the need to know and understand the
weather/climate and agriculture, learn simple and easy techniques to achieve the maximum benefit from
agriculture by making best use of favorable and adverse conditions weather.
Session II
In Session II, Dr. L. Nabachandra, Prof & Head, Dept. of Agronomy, CAU, Imphal gave a talk on
“Seasonal Change and Planning Requirement”. In his talk he suggested farmers to practice crop rotation,
intensive utilization of fields, planning of cropping system, proper study of which variety of the crop to
be chosen for the best yield, adoption of improved seeds, economically profitable planning, choosing of
appropriate date of sowing, etc. He suggested the farmers to rabi crop plantation mainly in October as the
duration of rabi crop is decreasing. If planted in December, pest and disease infestation is more during
February and March resulting in economic set-back. For water-melon, he suggested for March harvest
plan. If May/ June harvest plan is adopted then due to rain crop is destroyed and will cause economic setback. He advised for shifting of cropping pattern and crop selection as per seasonal change is required.
Next talk was by Prof. R.K.Nurvan Singh, Dept. of Agri. Phy., CAU, Imphal on “Climate Change
and Global Warming”. He mentioned the cause of long term changes both natural and human changes
and the effect they are having also it may cause extinction of some more species of flora and fauna. He
mentioned names of different green house gases and briefly explained the cause, effect and need of Green
House Effect especially in agriculture, for instance fertilization is affected with the change in CO 2 conc.
in atmosphere. He stated that industrialization is the main cause of these disturbances. As many nations
are involved in it so all nations must work jointly to make common people know and understand the
possible climate change and the possible effect they will be having.
In continuation of session II after lunch break, next talk was given by Prof. Arunkumar, Dept. of
Earth Sciences, MU, Canchipur on “Global Warming and Agricultural Practices”. In his talk he gave
brief comparative knowledge of conc. of different green house gases of primitive and present Earth,
deformations in it, consequences and effect of those changes. He stressed on need of harvesting of
precipitation for use during adverse conditions. He also suggested sprinkle irrigation as a better option.
After this, Dr. I. Meghachandra Singh, Sr. Scientist (Seed Tech.)Scientist i/c, IAAS, ImphalUnit gave a talk on functions of India Meteorological Department and this AMFU, types of forecast like
short & medium range weather forecast, about the different parameters given in forecast and those whose
observations are taken in the Observatory of this unit. He suggested water harvesting as the best way to
cope up with the problems even during the most adverse climatic condition. With this we will be able to
minimize the economic set-back during adverse conditions.
Session III
In session III, farmers raised many queries about changes they are experiencing in agriculture due
to changes in climate. They asked for the possible reason for delay in rainfall for the year 2009. They
talked about the loss they experienced due to lack of water in raising Kharif Rice. They asked for
cheapest and easiest water harvesting techniques, details and functions of ATMA and how the monsoon
in 2010 is likely to be so that they can reduce the possible loss.
Session IV
In Session IV, Shri Achouba Singh, Deputy Director Agriculture, Govt. of Manipur laid down the
need of following points:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
establish Rice Research Stations for upland /lowland rice to aid in other existing research works.
establish ATMA at district level.
adopt ‘System of Rice Intensification” (SRI) cultivation of rice.
harvest water for better use of available water.
improve irrigation system.
spread knowledge of agriculture with changing climate.
make the farmers familiar with the latest farm machineries.
promote farmer to farmer training to bring reform in extension work.
After this, questionnaire with twenty-five multiple-choice questions about the fundamentals of
agriculture and climate were distributed to the famers present in the programme for feedback. As per
their response, it was observed that the farmers were sensitized with the talks of the programme. They
felt for the need to know weather and plan agriculture practice accordingly so that during adverse weather
loss is minimized and agriculture production is increased by better use of the favorable weather.
After this, five farmers each from different districts were selected to whom the ordinary rain gauge
supplied by India Meteorological Department, Pune were to be distributed for installation and recording
in their respective fields/ locations. They were taught how to install and maintain the rain gauge and
observation register. They were also made aware of the need and utility for maintaining the data.
Then in the concluding part, the farmers visited the Agrometeorological Observatory of this AMFU.
They were exposed to how and why different weather parameters are observed like maximum &
minimum temperatures, morning & afternoon relative humidity, rainfall, wind speed, wind directions,
sunshine hours, etc. also how to get maximum benefit of prevailing weather using simple & easy
techniques. They enquired about how these parameters are going to affect the crops.
Programme for Roving Seminar on 4th November, 2009
Sessions
Registration
Session-I
Lunch
Theme and topic
Speaker
Time (hours)
9.00 – 10.00 a.m.
10.30-11.10 a.m.
11.30 a.m.-12.00
noon
Technical Session IIWeather and
Climate of the Farming Region,
Climate Change and Farming
Risks
1. Weather:
- Global Warming and Agriculture.
Dr. Arun Kumar
Prof.,
Dept. of Earth Sc., MU
12.10-12.20 p.m.
Dr. I.M.Singh
Sr. Scientist/
Scientist i/c, IAAS,
ICAR-RC,
Manipur Centre
12.20-12.30 p.m.
L.Nabachandra
Prof.,
Dept. of Agronomy, CAU
12.30-1.00 p.m.
- Seasonal climate patterns vis-à-vis
cropping systems
-Using rainfall records for decision
making in cultivar selection, future
climate change and its implication for
their region, climate risk in production of
different crops in their region.
Dr. I.M.Singh
Sr. Scientist/
Scientist i/c, IAAS,
ICAR-RC,
Manipur Centre.
Inaugural Session
-Meteorological Observations & its
relevance to farming, Short and medium
term weather forecasts, weather
forecasting terms, drought / flood alerts.
2.Climate:
-Better weather/ climate risk
management through AAS System.
Dr. N.Prakash
Joint Director/
Nodal Officer, IAAS,
ICAR-RC,
Manipur Centre.
1.00-1.20 p.m.
1.20-1.35 p.m.
Tea on run
Session III
Farmers’ Perception of Weather
and Climate Information
Provision and Feedback
Session IV
Interactive and closing Session
Departure
-Existing knowledge of farmers on weather
and climate use in agriculture and risk
management
-need for weather and climate information
-ways and means to improve
communicationof weather and climate
information to them
-interaction with local media.
Experience of Civil Society members and
rural dealers
Synergy between AAS and Line function
department, development of a local (village)
level rain measuring network
Collection of feedback form to these 25
farmers
- Farmers will provide information on
impact, vulnerability and adaptation of
agriculture to climate variation.
Remarks
Vote of thanks
Visit of Agrometoerological Observatory
Farmers
1.35-2.00 p.m.
Civil Society members and rural
dealers
State Govt. Official
2.00-2.30 p.m.
Scientist from AMFU
3.30-4.00 p.m.
Policy Makers
AMFU
4.00 p.m.
4.15 p.m.
4.25 p.m.
4.45 p.m.
2.30-3.00 p.m.