Agricultural Stalls at “Sundarban Agriculture and Handicraft Fair 2023”

In the 5-day mega agriculture exhibition at the Vivekananda fairground, Mukti organized 12 stalls; 9 were from Mukti SAM (Sustainable Agricultural Movement) farmers and 3 from the organization “Seeds”.In addition to the stalls, 5 seminars were conducted for the benefit of Mukti-associated progressive farmers. Around 550 farmers from Nagendrapur and Kankandigi GP participated in the event and took advantage of these training sessions. On 22^nd January, 10 SAM farmers who practice exclusively organic farming were felicitated with certificates and mementos for their achievements in sustainable farming.

The event was not just a farmer’s conclave, but a big training camp, in which training was imparted on three days from 10 am to 1 pm in different sessions covering advanced farming, use of technology in farming, shifting towards remunerative crops, use of biofertilizers and developed technology, production of paddy with less water, improvement of yields of the crops of pulses and oilseeds, and expansion of areas for ​​horticulture, etc.

Date	Speaker	Designation/ Affiliation	Subject	Number of farmer attendees
23rd Jan	Mr. SankardebGayen	ADA  (Additional Director of Agriculture), Canning	Discussion on soil health	160
	Mr. Anshuman Das	Are GMO seeds beneficial or harmful?	Food and Agriculture Workers, Welthungerhilfe
24th Jan	Dr.Avijit Ghosal	Treating plant diseases organically	ADA of SMS plant protection (KVK)	145
	Dr. Pratap Mukhopadhay	Fish and animal husbandry	Ex-scientist of ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research)
25th Jan	Dr.KrishnenduAchariya	Self-reliance of organic farmers and microorganisms	Professor and Head of the Department of Botany, University of Calcutta	195
3 days		5 seminars		500

Mukti is hopeful that the training will benefit the farmers immensely and they will be able to convert their farming into advanced farming.

11 stalls were set up to showcase the activities of Mukti’s organic farmers.

Stall number	Stall Exhibit
1	25 varieties of organic vegetables (the biggest and most beautiful) were exhibited. First and second place holders of each variety were given agricultural equipment.
2	This stall was of integrated framing. Through a table model, farmers showcased what an Ideal agricultural farm will look like.
3	The third stall was the collection of salt-tolerant and native paddy seeds. 70 types of paddy seeds and different types of vegetable seeds were exhibited.
4	In this stall, visitors were introduced to organic manure such as Amritpani, Ghonojibammrit, vermicompost, etc. Visitors were shown the making, function, and use of these manures.
5	The fifth stall was on pest management. Making of tree traps, yellow boards, color traps and scarecrows was shown as easy means of pest management through poison-free and chemical-free means.
6	Straw mulching and poly mulching methods were demonstrated in the sixth stall. Mulching is the technique of covering the soil surface around the plants with an organic or synthetic mulch to create favorable conditions for plant growth and proficient crop production
7	One stall was decorated as the SAM office. Various leaflets flex etc. were distributed to the visitors to describe the activities of SAM.
8	The stall was set up to introduce visitors to the famous honey of the Sundarbans. The stall displayed different types of honey such as mustard honey, lotus honey, litchi honey and many other flower honey.
9	Through the landless farming technique, it was shown how landless indigenous farmers can grow nutritious vegetables with minimal space and cost.

 

Visitors visited the stalls and gained concise knowledge of organic farming.