Aquaculture Farmer Field School And Livestock Farmer Field School Inaugurated At Village Saheberabad-I and II

Sonarpur: ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture and Sasya Shyamala Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Sonarpur with their commitment towards the farming community have added another milestone in its road map by inaugurating two farm schools AQUACULTURE FARMER FIELD SCHOOL (AFFS) and LIVESTOCK FARMER FIELD SCHOOL (LFFS) in Sonarpur Block, South 24 Parganas, West Bengal. The leadership of Dr.B.N.Paul,Co-ordinator of SCSP Scheme and Dr. N.C. Sahu, Head, Sasya Shyamala Krishi Vigyan Kendra have led to piloting of AFFS and LFFS for empowering over 5000 farmers in 20 nearby villages in adopting aquaculture and animal husbandry technologies. Farmer Field School is a school without walls for improving the decision-making capacity of the farmers and facilitate cross learning opportunities. The two schools were inaugurated by Swami Sarvalokananda, Secretary, Ramakrishna Mission Ashram, Narendrapur.
The programme began with the address by the Joint Secretary to Government of India Sri Sagar Mehera followed by Revered Swami Shivapurananda, Vice-chairman,SSKVK, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Educational and Research Institute. Dr. Saroj Kumar Swain, Director, ICAR-CIFA while addressing the gathering urged for cooperation of farmers to get connected with CIFA and SSKVK for their fisheries and other farming activities. He said that AFFS piloted by the institute in Odisha and Chhattisgarh have become extremely popular. The two field schools inaugurated today will contribute greatly to extension and advisory services delivery. He felicitated Smt. Suniti Mondal and Sri Akshay Mondal, the operator farmers for adopting scientific practices and being the role model for the farming community. Dr. S. K. Roy, Director, ICAR-ATARI, Zone V, Kolkata appreciated the efforts made by ICAR-CIFA and SSKVK for helping the farmers for adopting scientific integrated farming system. He also emphasized upon innovations in extension and training. He added that field school approach is a tested extension methodology and the two new farmer field schools inaugurated today will go a long way in bridging the research-extension gap. Dr. Tara Sankar Pan, Deputy Director, ARD, Govt. of W.B. assured his help in promoting scientific livestock farming. Dr. S. S. Giri, Head, Fish Nutrition and Physiology Division (FNPD) and Head, KVK, ICAR-CIFA focussed on role of aquaculture for strengthening rural livelihood. He appreciated the initiative and said that farmer-led extension in aquaculture and other farming enterprises will become popular. Among others who spoke were Swami Shivapurnananda, Vice-President, SSKVK, RKMVERI and Swami Bhavantakananda from Ramakrishna Mission, Belur Math and Dr. B. N. Paul, Dr. S. Adhikary, Dr. H. K. De, Principal Scientists of ICAR-CIFA. Dr. Swagat Ghosh, Subject Matter Specialist (Fisheries) and Dr. Sarbaswarup Ghosh, Subject Matter Specialist (Vet. and Animal Sc.), Sasya Shyamala KVK were also present. Dr.R.N.Mandal, Dr.Farhana Hoque, Dr.P.P. Chakarabarti, Mr. A. Hussan of ICAR-CIFA also participated in the Farmer-Scientists interactions. Also, inputs like fish, chicks, goat, feeds, lime, feed pelletizers and farm implements for aquaculture and poultry farming were distributed among farmers.
A Farmer-Scientists interface meeting was also organised to gauge the interest and the visibility of the institute in bringing farmers, stake holders, state Government and KVK in one platform. The resource persons from ICAR-CIFA and SSKVK also interacted with farmers for their field problems and related queries. Around 200 farmers and farm women attended the programme maintaining COVID guidelines. The programme was coordinated by Dr.B.N.Paul, Principal Scientist, ICAR-CIFA and Dr.N.C.Sahu, Head, Sasya Shyamala Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Sonarpur.