ICAR-NRRI, Cuttack celebrated Mahila Kisan Diwas
ICAR-National Rice Research Institute (NRRI), Cuttack celebrated MahilaKisanDiwas on 15th October, 2020 through virtual mode. A total of 134 persons including mahilakisan and officials participated in this programme. Dr. DipankarMaiti, Director, NRRI, Cuttack chaired the programme and said women are the backbone of agriculture as 43% labour force in India are women and they contribute immensely for development of agriculture and its’ allied sectors.
Dr. Mayabini Jena, Ex-Head, Crop Protection Division, NRRI, Cuttack and Chief Guest of this programme shared her views on women empowerment and role of women in agriculture and allied activities. During earlier times, women were not given importance in agriculture but now time has changed and women are given importance and their contribution in this field are well recognised. However, in rural setting many problems are associated with women like poverty, low land holdings, lack in education, lack in organizing and collaborating power, lack in knowledge of schemes, etc. Government has initiated many schemes and yojanas so as to strengthen the women farmers, which should be brought to the knowledge of women who are engaged in agriculture.She encouraged the women participants by illustrating how women are playing major role in various sectors including agriculture and even protecting the environment. Lastly she gave some suggestions how agriculture can be made more profitable through business orientation. While concluding her speech she appealed all the participating women to take oath to contribute their best in the development of the agriculturethrough meeting food and nutritional security and expansion of village economy.
Dr. Diptimayee Jena, Professor, OUAT, Bhubaneswar and another guest of this programme deliberated on the responsibilities of women in increasing the farm income. She said that the society should encourage and give equal opportunity to the women in each field/sector so that they can excel. Women contributes in agriculture through various works and activities in different enterprises like crop production, dairy, poultry, food processing activities, etc. She gave an account how women can expand their income generating activities through mushroom cultivation and processing, making different processed products from seasonal fruits, fish culture, vegetable production, etc. Women organized themselves through SHGs and more than 6 lakhs SHGs are created and they are performing very well. With little more support they can achieve great heights through engaging themselves in value added services and come up with stalls and mini hats for ease of marketing. Government should take initiatives to strengthen SHGs-Bank linkages so as to make the women self-sustainable.
Earlier Dr. Sujata Sethy, Head, KVK-Cuttack gave welcome address and Dr. Sushmita Munda, Scientist proposed formal vote of thanks at the end. Dr. BiswajitMondal, Principal Scientist arranged the whole programme and Dr. Sutapa Sarkar, Scientist coordinated the programme.
