Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) participated in Agrovision 2021 organized at Nagpur on 24-27 December, 2021. Various CSIR Institutes engaged in developing agro products and farming equipment displayed their products for the benefits of farmers and guided them on increasing their productivity with the minimum cost of production.
The farmers of Vidarbha were encouraged to cultivate various varieties of lemongrass and palmarosa developed by CSIR-CIMAP to get more benefit. CSIR-CIMAP, Lucknow has already deployed improved varieties of lemon grass and palmarosa in 600 acres of land in Vidarbha. Various herbal products including skin care, hair care, mosquito repellant, neutraceuticals, disinfectants, etc. were also showcased by CSIR-CIMAP.
CSIR-NBRI exhibited the biofertilizersand herbal products in order to increase income of farmers. The knowledge on cultivation of gerbera in polyhouse and bioinoculants to improve the quality of crops was shared with the farmers. CSIR-CMERI, Durgapur showcased its new inventions for modern agriculture including solar-based automatic irrigation and cotton picking head. Automated irrigation with solar tree was demonstrated to the farmers as an ideal solution to load shading.
CSIR-IHBT demonstrated a potential of Stevia cultivation in Vidarbha, which is known as sweet herb of Paraguay and 300 times sweeter than sucrose. On an average, dry leaf yield of stevia is 3.0-3.5 tonnes/ha/year, which fetches market price of Rs.100 to 120/ kg, resulting in net return of Rs.2.0-2.7 lakh/ha/year. Edible and ornamental bamboos were also displayed by CSIR-IHBT.
CSIR-CFTRI apprised the farmers about bakery, beverage, cereal, fruit and vegetable products. The technologies relating to carbonated orange juice and dehydrated citrus fruits, along with economically viable processing, were also displayed by CSIR-CFTRI. CSIR-NEERI informed the visitors about the work done by CSIR-NEERI on green corridor development on national highway between Jam and Hinghanghat in Nagpur region.
Dr.Atul N. Vaidya, Director, CSIR-NEERI inaugurated the CSIR pavilion. He interacted with the visitors and scientists participating from various CSIR Institutes.
On all days, the CSIR pavilion was visited by thousands of farmers from Vidarbha region. Most of the visitors were curious to know about the achievements of CSIR and many were interested in taking the CSIR technologies. The CSIR scientists also interacted with farmers, entrepreneurs and students at the CSIR pavilion.
