A month-long training programme for a group of agriculture students from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore, has helped them gain hands-on-experience in crop cultivation, farm technologies and also marketing of agri products.
Under the Rural Agricultural Work Experience programme, seven final year students of Agri Business Management Studies from the university stayed at Sathyamangalam from February 13 to March 13 and visited Ukkaram, Kallipatti, Kodiveri and a few other villages and interacted with farmers. They studied the crop patterns being followed, cultivation methods of various crops, types of pests and insects that affect the crops and preventive methods and challenges in marketing agri products in the markets. Crops like banana, sugarcane, tapioca and flowers, particularly jasmine, were cultivated widely in Sathyamangalam block and hence students got first hand information on cultivating the crop.
Sharing their experience, students M. Vanitha Rajam, M. Sangeetha, M. Sripriya, M. Jeyapradha, K. Kavipriya, S. Gowthami and N. Abitha said varieties of banana crops were cultivated widely in villages in the block. Sigatoka leaf spot was the common fungal disease that affected banana and the farmers were asked to take steps to rectify it, they said.
Also, they visited the Uzhavar Sandhai to learn how farmers marketed their products. Also, the students had a three-day training at ICAR Krishi Vigyan Kendra, MYDRA, at Gobichettipalayam.
