An international workshop hosted by the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (KVASU) in Kochi recently stressed the need for focussing on productivity, soil fertility and animal welfare for ensuring a sustainable income to the farming community in the country.
The two-day workshop was held as a part of Global Innovation Initiative (GII), the organisers said in a release here.
B. Ashok, Vice Chancellor, KVASU, inaugurated the workshop.
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While delivering a speech on that occasion, Michel Lee of University of Bristol, UK, suggested that India had more potential in subsistence farming since more than 90 per cent of the production was under small holder systems. Animal welfare, soil fertility, quality of fodder, and pasture management were the pillars of sustainable development, he added.
Madhusoodana Kurup,Vice Chancellor, Kerala University for Fisheries and Oceanographic Studies, said integrated farming systems needed to be popularised as part of sustainable farming operations.
Kumar Venkat Narayanan of the University of Connecticut presented a paper on one health and emerging zoonoses such as salmonellosis and campylobacter.
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Fifteen experts from partner universities of the initiative, including University of Bristol, Kansas State University, Rothamsted Research Institute, University of Western Australia, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Zhejiang University and the KVASU presented papers on related subjects. As many as 60 delegates across the world participated in the programme.