Bhubaneswar: A team of six scientists, who Friday visited Haladi Basanta village in the Balipatna Block of the Khurda district to take stock of the agrarian issues in the village, found that acidic soil and lower productivity are among the issues hampering agriculture produce there.
The delegation comprising mostly Agricultural Research Services (ARS) scientist probationers from the National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM), Hyderabad, visited the site with a team from Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Khurda, to analyse the soil health and agricultural practices in the area.
The team, during it visit to the area village, interacted with farmers, heard their woes and suggested them ways to improve their farm productivity. “The main thing we observed was lower productivity of vegetables in the farms and lower feed given to the cattle. We also observed that the soil was acidic in nature and some interventions are needed to solve these hurdles,” said Aliza Pradhan, an agronomy scientist from NAARM.
Another scientist, Amiya Ranjan Sahu, said that proper crop management, integrated fish farming and nutrients management can help the farmers in improving their income and livelihood options by minimising the risks involved in agriculture. Amit Kumar Patil, another scientist who is an expert in farm machinery and power engineering, said that azola cultivation, sprouted wheat seedling as an alternative can also help in improving the productivity in the agriculture sector in the area.
Other scientists from NAARM who visited the site included Gladston Y, Ajina SM and Ajeet Singh. They were accompanied by KVK, Khurda Head, PN Ananth.