Activities

VILLAGE AWARENESS MEETINGS:
The division is engaged in agriculture technology transfer initiatives. As a first step, street corner meetings are conducted at village level to create awareness about the present status of agriculture in their respective locations, the problems faced by farmers, technological interventions available and the need to apply those technologies.

The meetings would be participatory. The farmers raise lot of doubts which the NAF officials clarify. The village awareness meetings are used by NAF to identify lead farmers for technology adoption.

DEMONSTRATION FARMS:
Once the lead farmers are shortlisted, Demonstration Farms are established in farmers’ fields to showcase the benefits of technology adoption. For establishing demonstration farms, the following steps are followed:

COMPREHENSIVE SOIL TESTING
The soil from the farms of lead farmers is tested comprehensively for all the 12 essential nutrients apart from other fertility determining parameters. It includes testing for pH, Electrical Conductivity, Organic Matter %, CEC, % Base Saturation, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium, Sulfur, Zinc, Manganese, Iron Copper, Boron and Sodium.

Based on the test results, the NAF experts make integrated nutrient prescriptions including organic, bio and inorganic inputs specific to the crop chosen by farmers. General prescriptions for the suitability of soil to crop based on the test results are also made.

LAND PREPARATION
Land preparation forms an important part of NAF technical advice. Deep tilling using chisel plough up to 1 ½ - 2 ft depth is advocated. Flat bed as well as raised bed cultivation is advised based on crop choice and topography of the land. NAF farm machinery center is providing these services with its implements like rotovator, cultivator, disc plough, off set disc harrow and leveler.

Special purpose tools like direct seeder, seed cum fertilizer drill, tropiculture, Rice Transplanter are also extended to the farmers

QUALITY INPUTS

TRAINING
The farmers are trained and their capacity is built to adopt the modern technologies. Training in the form of classroom interactions, field visits etc are extended to the farmers for better implementation of technologies

FARM TECHNICAL ADVICE
Apart from establishing the demonstration farms, NAF offers field extension services to such farms with periodic monitoring for inter-cultivation and pest management strategies. Mid course actions are suggested and hand holding services are offered to the farmers

IMPROVED IRRIGATION METHODS
The farmers are advised to follow water saving irrigation methods like alternate wetting and drying, raised bed / broad bed irrigation, skip furrow irrigation depending upon the crop chosen.