Kobulong, April 16 (MTNews): With an aim to encourage sustainable farming for conserving resources, meeting the food and nutritional security, ATMA Kobulong Block Mokokchung conducted a demonstration on intercropping of Maize with French bean on 16th April 2022 at Yisemyong town with Samuel ACTO (Agronomy) KVK, Tuensang as the resource person. He mentioned that the intercropping of French beans with maize results not only in improvement of soil condition, but also provides nutritional security and enhanced farm income.
The resource person covered all aspects of package and practices of maize and French bean from climate requirements, soil requirements, field preparation, seed and sowing, nutrient management, water management and weed management. Later, field demonstration on land preparation, sowing method, and disease management was carried out by the resource person.
At the end of the program, there was an interactive session. Free maize seeds, French bean seeds, Neem oil and Roban provided by the District Agriculture Office, Mokokchung were distributed to the farmers. Altogether 24 farmers attended the program.
ATMA, Kobulong Block, Mokokchung also conducted a demonstration on cultivation of high yielding foxtail millets at Yisemyong Compound on 16th April 2022.
Kajenchila AO & BTT Convener in her keynote address encouraged the farmers to cultivate millets saying that millet is a climate smart crop, has many health benefits and an economically important crop.
The resource person for the program, Samuel ACTO (Agronomy) KVK, Tuensang mentioned that cultivating millets is very economical for farmers, seeds of millets can be stored for longer period and the millets are several times superior to other cereal crops such as rice and wheat. He added that 2023 has been announced as the International Year of Millets. He covered all aspects from its origin, the various types of millets, climate and soil requirements, spacing, seed rate, intercultural operation, cropping system and harvesting and post-harvest management. Further, land preparation, sowing method and spacing was demonstrated by the resource person.
Later, inputs such as millet seeds, roban, neem oil provided by the District Agriculture Office were distributed to the farmers. Altogether, 20 farmers participated in the program.