A two-day expo and workshop on farming and related activities was inaugurated at Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore on Friday.
Workshops on various aspects of agriculture, with special focus on water conservation were held at the inaugural session.
Modern agricultural equipment, fertilizers and pesticides, tractors, horticulture crops and seeds were displayed and workshops on water management, soil-less agriculture, poultry farming, bee-keeping, drip irrigation, solar technology and food processing were held.
“This is the 5th edition of the expo and workshop, where students and farmers interact with experts on farming activities and get help to increase productivity,” said S. Babu, Dean, VIT School of Agricultural Innovations and Advanced Learning (VAIAL).
While inaugurating the Farmer-Agri Student Integration Programme, Minister for Commercial Taxes and Registration, K.C. Veeramani said that the State government would ensure smooth implementation of the Godavari-Cauvery River Link Scheme envisaged by the Union government.
He said that the government, led by a farmer-turned-politician Edappadi K. Palaniswami, is keen on protecting the interests of farmers. Tamil Nadu has yet again bagged the Krishi Karman Award for its performance in agricultural production, for the third year in a row, he reminded the audience.
VIT Chancellor, G. Viswanathan urged the State government to ensure water supply by linking river Godavari with Cauvery and Thenpennai with Palar.
He said agriculture has declined owing to problems like failure of monsoon and labour shortage. Under these circumstances, the two-day event is aimed at educating the farmers of Vellore and Tiruvannamalai districts about the available modern technology for undertaking operations like sowing and harvesting, he said.
Katpadi MLA Duraimurugan said agriculture received much attention under the DMK government.
DC A. Shanmuga Sundaram, while detailing the efforts taken by the district administration in improving water supply and ground water table, asked the farmers to grow conventional crops to improve agriculture production.
