A two day workshop on the Coordinated Research Project on Plastic Culture was inaugurated today at the College of Technology and Engineering (CTAE), MPUAT.

The workshop, which will be Presided by Dr. SN Jha (Dy Director General, ICAR) was inaugurated by the Chief Guest, Professor Uma Shankar Sharma, Vice Chancellor of MPUAT.

During his key note address, he said that Plastic Culture Technology can be very beneficial to the farmers, provided the Poly-House are constructed in accordance with the requirements of the crop that is intended to be produced.

Special Guest, Padma Shree Dr. Brahm Singh added that the plastic to be used for the Poly-Houses should be bio-decomposed so that the ill-effects caused by the pollution resulting from use of plastic can be made redundant.  He also said that Plastic Technology in use in agriculture can be safely extended to Fisheries, cattle farming and chicken farming.

Prof. Uma Shankar in his key note address said that in India, Plastic Technology in Agriculture is restricted to drip irrigation, sprinkler based irrigation and poly houses, which unfortunately is very limited use as compared to its use in other developed nations.

Dr. Gupta, Director ICAR-CIPHET said that the although there is no dearth of learned and brilliant agriculture scientists in India, the research work is limited due to availability of resources.  Further, the benefits of research do not reach the end user – the Farmer, which is of utmost importance.

Dr. RK Singh, Project Coordinator, said that the Plasticulture Technology Research Project, which had started in 1988 at just 4 centers across India, now pans out to 14 centres, and over the last 28 years, the research has benefited farmers by improving their produce, optimal utilization of limited water resources and finally increasing their livelihood.