A team of scientists from Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) has been awarded for Excellence in Dissemination of agricultural practices and technologies from Lab to Farm by Agriculture Today, a National Agriculture Magazine. Their work has been recognised for improving livelihood and subsistence production systems in remote areas like Leh.

The group led by Dr. A. Arunachalam, Coordinator of task force on Himalayan Agriculture under National Mission on Sustaining Himalayan Ecosystem (NMSHE) and Dr. M. Raghubanshi, Co-Investigator, Leh component has been introducing the best agronomic practices and weed management demonstrations on farmers’ fields with new crops and varietal assessment.

The group consisting of Dr Anurag Saxena, Associate Scientist, along with technical support members Ms Stanzin Landol, Dr Enoch Spalbar, and Mr Jigmat Stanzin also organised a total of 38 trainings with one kisan mela and workshop for dissemination of available scientific information to the farmers to enable sustainable and climate-resilient agriculture in the Leh region with support from the NMSHE Programme of the Department of Science and Technology (DST).

The Task Force on Himalayan Agriculture under National Mission on Sustaining Himalayan Ecosystem (NMSHE), as part of Climate Change program of Department of Science & Technology, worked on the six components such as database development, monitoring, vulnerability assessment, adaptive research, pilot studies, and organized capacity building/ training programmes.

The NMSHE work done on the information dissemination, capacity building, and farmers’ training by the members of the Task Force on Himalayan Agriculture has helped in the improvement of livelihood and profitability in subsistence production systems of Leh region.

Dr. M. Raghuvanshi, Principal Scientist who is presently posted in ICAR-National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, received the Award during the Award Ceremony for Agriculture Extension 2021 organized virtually by the Agriculture Today Group.

****

RP (DST Media cell)