SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Nov 28: A team of IIT ISM Dhanbad Department of Management Studies & Industrial Engineering organised a workshop to bail out beleaguered tribal farmers of drought-hit Jamtara district through farming tips and providing information about government schemes.
Farmers apprised of agriculture-based entrepreneurship
The team under assistant professor Rashmi Singh of the department reached Kanakend village of Kundhit block of Jamtara district, around 94.5 km away from IIT ISM Dhanbad. She organized a workshop and apprised the farmers about the way of to increase income by tapping the farm-based entrepreneurship opportunities in the present situation.
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Prof Rashmi Singh said that in the workshop they came to know during the interaction with 30 scheduled tribe farmers that their condition is not good due to drought for the last two years in continuation.
“Since agriculture is their main source of income, due to drought they are facing difficulties. We apprised them about the methods like drip irrigation, mulching, use of composts, cover crops and cultivating drop tolerant species and varieties, monitoring soil temperature and moisture so that watering can be optimized, in the day-long workshop” said Prof Singh.
Niladri Das, associate professor of the department, who was also present during the workshop said the basic objective of the programme was to apprise them about the agriculture-based entrepreneurship opportunities.
Farmers made aware of govt schemes
The workshop was held at Bankathi Panchayat Bhavan of the village as part of the Department of Science & Technology sponsored project, titled, ‘Improving the well-being of Scheduled Tribe communities using Game Theoretic and Operations Research Technique in Jamtara district of Jharkhand state’.
The IIT ISM faculty team also apprised the farmers led by Bhim Hembram about various central government and state government schemes like Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojna, Rainfed Area Development Programme, National Rural Drinking Water programme meant for the drought areas.
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Irrigation techniques will be helpful: Farmer
Safiq Ansari, one of the farmers said it was a productive programme as rain is the sole source of irrigation for us. The techniques of irrigation like drip irrigation as explained by IIT (ISM) will help us to carry out proper farming with the availability of less water.
