The central government has taken up an initiative to promote usage of agro-textiles in the North Eastern region through its ambitious scheme “Promoting usages of agro-textiles in Northeastern region” to harness the tremendous potential for agricultural, horticultural, floricultural produce by augmenting them with suitable agro-textiles like shade nets, ground cover, crop cover etc.

As part of that initiative, a seminar on “Agro textiles: Holistic alternative to enhance yield and profitability of Horticulture and Agriculture” was held at Horticulture Research Farm in Phek in Nagaland earlier this week.

The programme was organized in association with the State Horticulture Department with the purpose of educating the people about agro-textile usage and its benefits and various financial and technical supports to be provided under the scheme.

The Synthetic & Art Silk Mills’ Research Association (SASMIRA) which is a Centre of Excellence (COE) for agro-textiles under the Textiles Ministry, has been entrusted with the responsibility to accomplish the scheme goals with the help of State Govt. and other Horticulture/Agriculture associated agencies.

The programme was attended by officials from KVK, State Horticulture Departments and more than 90 farmers from different parts of neighboring region along with the team from COE-Agro-tech, SASMIRA, Mumbai.

During the technical session application of different Agro-textiles (like shade nets, ground covers, bird protection nets, frost protection cover/crop cover, anti-hail net, pond lining, etc.) were deliberated. It is learned that the use of these Agro-textile products can enhance the horticulture/agriculture crop production by 3 to 4 times. (SH)