Tamil Nadu minister in Gujarat to study Agri development model

Gandhinagar, 13 December 2011

A delegation of senior officers of Tamil Nadu, led by their Agriculture Minister S. Damodaran met his counterpart Dileep Sangahni here today to get acquainted with Gujarat’s exemplary developments in the field of agriculture.

Gujarat’s Principal Agriculture Secretary R.K. Tripathi made a detailed audiovisual presentation on the state’s latest experiments, achievements in agriculture and related departments.

Other members of the delegation on a two-day whirlwind tour of the state included Tamil Nadu’s Agriculture Production Commissioner Sandeep Saxena, Agriculture Commissioner Dr. K. Manivasan, Agriculture Marketing and Agribusiness Commissioner Thangakalia Purumal, Horticulture and Plantation Crops Commissioner Sellamathu and Chief Agriculture Engineer M. Sensil. Gujarat’s Director of Agriculture Dr. B.R. Shah was also present during the meeting.

The delegation had earlier visited soil testing laboratory set up under a National Project at Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) yard at Jetalpur and watched the process of the working of Gujarat’s unique ‘Soil Health Cards’ system, the process of auction, cleaning, grading and sorting of paddy crops. It also visited one of the biggest APMC yards at Vasna catering to the needs of Ahmedabad city and its surrounding areas.

The members of the delegation met a progressive farmer Prafulbhai Patel of Vasad near Vadodara and took keen interest in his organic farming and specialized marketing, mulching, drip irrigation and green house farming. They also met the farmers of Shivpura village in Gandhinagar district who have adopted group ‘precision farming’ – yet another area of Gujarat’s pioneering initiative.

They also made it a point to visit Anand Agricultural University (AAU) campus, one of the oldest institutes of its kind in the country engaged in research in farm and related activities. They met AAU Vice-Chancellor Shaikh and took particular interest in e-Kiran software developed for Soil Health Cards.