Tarun Karthick
Sri Vijaya Puram, 09 July 2025
ICAR-Central Island Agricultural Research Institute (CIARI), Port Blair, in collaboration with its Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) at Car Nicobar, successfully conducted two training programmes at Kakana village from 4th to 6th July 2025. The programmes focused on “Backyard Vegetable Cultivation with Weather-Based Advisory” and “Innovative Technologies for Fly Management and Leaf Separation.”
Aimed at empowering tribal farmers with sustainable and climate-resilient agricultural practices, the trainings introduced improved vegetable varieties such as brinjal, okra, pumpkin, bitter gourd, radish, amaranthus, cowpea, and other gourds. The participants were also educated on the use of weather-based advisories, integrated pest management, post-harvest handling, and hygiene technologies.
Special emphasis was placed on enhancing food and nutritional security while improving the adaptive capacity of tribal farmers to cope with changing climatic conditions. Practical sessions included site selection, raised bed preparation, application of organic inputs, and natural pest control methods.
One of the highlights of the programme was the training on interpreting Gramin Krishi Mausam Seva (GKMS) advisories—a collaborative initiative by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and ICAR. These advisories equip farmers with crucial information for making timely decisions on sowing, irrigation, and harvesting.
A total of 53 tribal farmers received vegetable seed kits and training manuals titled “Island Kitchen Gardening – Sustainable Resource Utilisation and Self-Sufficiency.” Additionally, hands-on demonstrations of the Dweep Go-Fly and Dweep Leaf Separator technologies were conducted for 40 farmers.
The programmes were carried out under the Scheduled Tribe Component (STC) and Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) schemes. The initiative was led by Dr. Abhilash Singh, Scientist, ICAR-CIARI, and Mr. T. Harshang Kumar, Scientist, along with Subject Matter Specialists Dr. Axay, Deepu Meena, Sanket, and Azamal from KVK Nicobar. They were supported by Dr. I. Jaisankar, Senior Scientist, and Dr. Santosh Kumar, Head, KVK Car Nicobar.
