Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India, Narendra Singh Tomar inaugurated the seed processing and storage facility at ICAR-Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute (IGFRI), Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh. A women’s farmers conference was also organised on this occasion.
On this occasion, Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Dr. Himanshu Pathak; Chancellor of Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural University, Dr. Panjab Singh and Vice-Chancellor Dr. AK Singh were present. Tomar also observed the techniques and reviewed the activities of the university with Dr. Amresh Chandra, Director of the Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute. Apart from the institute headquarters, three units of this type of seed processing have been installed at the regional research centres located at Dharwad and Srinagar, which have been funded by the Ministry of Agriculture for Rs 3.7 crores. During the Women’s Farmers Conference, agricultural equipment worth Rs 50 lakhs was distributed to the beneficiary women farmers under the scheduled caste sub-project run at the institute and centres.
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Tomar appreciated the efforts of the institute for the empowerment of farmers, particularly the women farmers through the scheduled caste sub-project and praised the scientists of the institute for the development of more than 300 fodder crop varieties and various techniques developed by the institute. He emphasised on taking the various types of research of the institute to the maximum number of farmers. Mentioning about the various welfare schemes being run by the Government of India for the benefit of farmers, Tomar called for more efforts towards adequate availability of water and fodder in the country.
