Andhra Pradesh: ‘Farmer Scientist Course’ launches at IGGCARL premises under Rythu Sandhikara Samstha in Pulivendula
Mr. Kakani Govardhan Reddy, Minister for State Agriculture inaugurated the academic first batch of the four-year “Farmer Scientist Course” under Rythu Sadhikara Samstha at IGGCARL premises in Pulivendula on Saturday.
Mr. Kakani Govardhan Reddy, Minister has stated that the state of Andhra Pradesh is going through a “farmer’s golden age” which is giving great importance to the farmers and the agriculture sector, which satisfies the hunger of the people.
Mr. Kakani Govardhan Reddy, Minister along with JC G. Ganesh Kumar, State Agriculture Adviser Iragam Reddy Tirupal Reddy, State Horticulture Adviser P. Siva Prasad Reddy, Rythu Sadhikara Samstha CEO Rama Rao, Executive Vice Chairman Vijay Kumar, Commissioner Narasimha Reddy and others attended the program.
On this occasion, the Minister of Agriculture said that the main objective of the state government is to increase productivity with less investment. He said that the entire country is praising the policies implemented by our state in the field of agriculture. The Chief Minister of our state, who is a farmer’s partisan, has done many reforms and innovations for the welfare of farmers and said that it is ideal for the agricultural sector of the country.
He said that the Rythu Bharosa Center should be an agricultural research institute.. State Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s aspiration. He said that farmers are being scientifically educated in order to overcome UNICEF’s goal of satisfying the world’s need for food by 2030.
He said that the Indo-German Global Academy for Agroecology Research and Learning (IGGAARL) instituted by our state government in coordination with the German and Indian governments is playing a major role in this matter.
Mr. Vijay Kumar, CEO of the Rythu Sadhikara Samstha said that the state government is preparing farmer scientists through the Rythu Sadhikara Samstha with the ultimate goal of appointing a farmer scientist in the Rythu Bharosa centers of the state and making all the villages environmentally friendly.
He said that the course will play a major role in the effort to bring nature agriculture closer to all the farmers in the state. He said that there are good chances of rapid spread of nature agriculture in the state through this course.
He said that the agricultural sector has become complicated by facing many challenges such as excessive investments, non-achievement of expected yields, swallowing of the soil with single cropping methods, changes in climate etc.
In this special course with a duration of four years, four types of training will be given to the farmer scientists. He said that the modules prepared for complete understanding of nature agriculture are being taught in the classrooms. Farmer scientists are involved in making “A” grade organic farming models and ATM (Any time money) models in their own farm, conducting agricultural schools and imparting community training.
In the same way farmer scientists develop every village as a climate resilient village by researching and learning different topics related to agro-ecology. By the completion of the course, the farmer scientist will develop his farm to a high standard and earn at least 25 thousand rupees per acre every month.
Also, the ideal model developed by the farmer scientist should attract the rest of the farmers in the village and at least 50 people should be trained as “A” grade farmers, he said.
He said that through this academy, 1000 farmer scientists have been prepared in the first two years and after that every year two to three thousand farmer scientists have been selected as the target of the farmers’ empowerment organization. Also, from the third year, the course has been offered to nature agriculture students from other states and countries.
