The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has assured farmers that it could come up with solutions to problems faced by farmers with assistance from the SASTRA, a Deemed to be University.
This assurance follows discussions the farmers had with the ONGC and the SASTRA-Technology Business Incubation (SASTRA-TBI) centre during a recent four-day free training programme on ‘Sustainable livelihood in agriculture through organic and technology-based farming.’ According to the University release, the objective was to motivate and educate the benefits of organic farming and the use of technology to improve the yield and thereby get more income from agricultural operations.
The programme was designed in such a way to cover organic farming, herbal medicine for livelihood and modern technology in farming. The participants were taken to an organic farm at Keeranur in Pudukottai district to understand, experience and explore the organic farming activities.
They were taken to the SASTRA-TBI centre where the usage of drone for spraying fertilizer/pesticide, and IOT for water management and soil test were explained.
Further, to enlighten the farmers about the business prospects in the food processing sector, the participants were taken to the National Institute for Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management, Thanjavur (NIFTEM-Thanjavur), formerly known as the Indian Institute of Food Processing Technology.
During the discussion, the farmers listed various problems faced by them and also probable solutions for the issues with the organisers. The ONGC and SASTRA assured to address the issues.
While addressing the farmers, the Group General Manager and Support Manager, ONGC, Karaikal Asset, Sebastian said that the welfare of farmers would be taken care of through the Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives. He had also distributed certificates and mementoes to the participants.
