NE EDUCATION BUREAU
COIMBATORE, MAY 3
India is at a crucial juncture in its fight against COVID-19, the pandemic which affected over billions of people worldwide. Lockdown may halt any business but not the Agriculture. Agriculture being the sole reason for food security of the Nation, the work on Agriculture continues without any break.
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, one of the premier Agricultural Universities in the country works for the upliftment of farmers besides providing quality education in Agriculture.
During the lockdown period of COVID-19, the University runs with minimum staff members to execute the essential services following all the code of protection. The Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Directorate of Natural Resource Management, TNAU, Coimbatore is providing technical advice to the farmers on Fertilizer recommendation and Nutrient Management.
All India Coordinated Research on Soil Test Crop Response (AICRP-STCR) functioning in the Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry has developed STCR-IPNS equations for 32 major agricultural and horticultural crops.
The Scheme is monitored by Pradip Dey, Project Coordinator, AICRP – STCR at Indian Institute of Soil Science (IISS), Bhopal. P. Dey conducted series of two skype meetings with the centre In-charges of AICRP – STCR. The meeting was attended by AICRP-STCR scheme Incharge S. Maragatham, Associate Professor from TNAU and P. Dey suggested the following measures to cope up with the COVID ’19 situations:
Agriculture R&D is a continuous process and any disruption will impact the food security. Contact farmers need to be provided with timely advisories through SMS/WhatsApp messages about urgency and measures to be taken for COVID-19 protection while taking up critical farm operations. Also farm operation for the month and meteorological forecast from IMD should be forwarded regularly.
In cases where soil samplings were found difficult due to lockdown, fertiliser recommendations based on STCR should be provided from soil health card / history of background soil fertility / soil fertility maps of the area.
In cases where experimental farms are far away, and initiating new experiments are difficult, it was suggested to go for more and more verification trials in farmers’ field in collaboration with local KVKs. This will help farmers by supplementing with inputs as well as technical know- how besides verification of our STCR equations.
A direct fallout of lockdown may be difficulties in movement of racks of fertilizers to states and then to districts for timely stocking and supply of fertilizers for ensuing kharif season. In such situation, there is a need for popularisation the tips of fertilizer management.
For example, top dressing in first 10 days after sowing if fertilizers are not available for basal application, spray of nutrients under very bad conditions of availability of fertilizers in some area.
There is also need for development of fertilizer management contingency plans for local conditions and adoption of drip fertigation.
Possibilities of introducing direct marketing of farm produce, especially perishable vegetables and fruits to SAU/ICAR Institutes/KVK residential campuses (besides other campuses as well) should be explored during lockdown under sincere supervision and proper protection so that people get fresh nutritious farm produce at reasonable rate and farmers get legitimate price for their produce.
Apart from this, several crop specific resource management practices were also suggested by the Project Co-ordinator (AICRP-STCR), IISS, Bhopal. At this decisive situation, The Department of SS&AC, Directorate of Natural Resource Management concentrating on the advisory services for fertilizer recommendation and Nutrient Management for important crops through digital media, a release from TNAU said.
