Farmers enlightened on farming techniques through Agri Tech Fest 

Pune: Agri Tech Fest - 2017 concluded at the College of Agriculture on Wednesday. The fest saw the participation of more than 20,000 farmers and students from Maharashtra.

The Agri Tech Fest exhibited live demonstrations of 74 varieties of 28 different crops like cereals, pulses, oilseed crops and cash crops, 39 varieties of 20 vegetable crops, 46 varieties of 12 flower crops, 24 varieties of 13 fruit crops, nine cattle breeds, Phule Triveni cattle breed, two buffalo breeds, two goat breeds, three indigenous sheep breeds, indigenous poultry breeds, duck, turkey and quail and various agricultural equipment. 

These indigenous cattle breeds, along with some crops and saplings, were imported from Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth (MPKV), Rahuri. 

Ulhas Gaikwad, Professor at MPKV, said, “Phule Triveni cattle breed is said to be the prestige of our institute, as we have worked on this breed since 1972. Basically, we were working on the development of triple cross cattle breed which could yield 5,000 litres of milk per lactate, with more than four per cent fat. We have now achieved the target.” 

Several farmers had an opportunity to understand and explore the new technology in agriculture, like bio-fertilisers, bio-control agents, mushroom production technology and drip 
irrigation system. 

A row of saplings was also displayed to the visitors, which included kitchen/terrace gardening and flowers from the poly house.

Lectures were given by experts on the topics of farmers’ interest and concern. Pramod Rasal, Associate Dean of College of Agriculture, Pune, said, “During the fest, saplings worth Rs 10,000 were sold. Mostly, farmers from all over Maharashtra visited the fest and they received information on the problems that they are facing during farming.”