Ludhiana, February 15: Five-day training on ‘Post Harvest Technology of Rural Catchments’ for farmers of Diara region of Bihar was today inaugurated at Central Institute of Post Harvest Engineering and Technology (CIPHET). Notably, training in post harvest holds special significance for Diara region farmers as this low lying area is surrounded by rivers and crops could be grown only in six months of the year. The programme is sponsored by the Diara Development Project, Bihar.
Welcoming the participants, Head Transfer of Technology (ToT) Dr Deepak Raj Rai said that farmers could increase their income manifolds by processing and better storage techniques even in difficult areas like Diara. He said that CIPHET has developed number of technologies to help farmers. “Farmers often face problem of low prices in case of potatoes due to glut. This could be converted into cattle feed with help of CIPHET technologies,” he said, adding that similarly by better storage increased shelf life of fruits and vegetables could help farmers from distress sale.
Elaborating on technologies to be covered on training programme, Dr Rai said that institute would provide all help to farmers even after their training. Bhushan Prasad Mandal, Technical Officer, Diara Vikas Pariyojna, said that farmers in Diara region face lot of difficult and rain water remains in the fields for six months. “There is no proper road connectivity and during rain area becomes highly inaccessible,” he said, adding that this is the reason Bihar government is giving special emphasis on improving lives of farmers by processing and high value crops. It could be mentioned that Diara region of Bihar is spread in 18 districts of Bihar and more than 11.76 lakh hectare of land, which is 12.5 percent to total land in Bihar, falls under this region.
