Lady Entrepreneurs’ Wing of Vidarbha Industries Association is celebrated Earth Day by conducting a three days Workshop on ‘Entrepreneurship in Organic Nursery & Farming’ at VIA Auditorium, Nagpur.
The workshop was inaugurated by the Chief Guest, R B Goenka, Director – MSEDCL Holding Company and Chairman of VIA Energy Forum. In the inaugural speech he informed the participant about organic farm and eco-tourism developed in his farm house.
He advised farmers first should focus on land development, drip irrigation and generate alternate water sources, water harvesting and we have to understand the layout of farms and to make rain water collection and we have to adopt water harvesting technology and also create ponds/reservoir for collection of water. He said we should also focused on minimal dependency of labour because they are getting lesser and costly, we have to use mechanize the farming.
He further added 100% organic farming is not possible, we have to use non harmful chemicals residue for yielding good crop. We have also focus on value addition to your agri products, we have to also educate farmers about value to their products for long term survival like Toor, Dal, lemon, tomato, etc. He said as the concrete jungle is developing so fast and it kills the greenery of our city and also polluting environment, we should plant trees and save our environment. He also appreciated the team VIA LEW team for organising such meaningful workshop.
All the participants had excellent learning during these three days of workshop. We had very eminent speakers throughout these three days and they covered various topics i.e. on 22nd April :  Anant Bhoyar, as a farmer from Kalmeshwar, who got this year Rastrapati Puraskar of Rs.5 Lacs for his excellent work on organic farming conducted Session on “Organic Farming & Value Addition. He said it is very necessary for a farmers to make his products value added to earn more profits. He said when we starts using chemicals to stop, biodiversity affects and our ecosystems destroys and slowly our land gets non fertile.
Session on Marketing of Organic Produce by Hemant Chauhan, former Dept of Agriculture and Session on PGS & Organic Certification Scheme by Laxmikant Padole, Director, NRTDC- Gondkhairy, Nagpur.
Second day on 23rd April : Session on “Ecological Rejuvenation Technology†by Dr Lal Singh, Scientist, Ecosystem Division, NEERI, Nagpur; Session on “Cultivating Nursery as a Business†by Om Jajodia, Proprietor, Krishi Kranti Kendra, Nagpur; Session on Skill Development Training Program & Certificate Course by Dr Vachaspati Pande, Sr Scientist RCOF, Nagpur and Session on Organic Community Farming by Rupinder Nanda.
On concluding day, 25th April : Presentation on Banks Schemes for Farmers & Prospective Agri Entrepreneurs byMonali Malviya, Sr Manager – Canara Bank; Success Stories of Successful Organic Farmers by Ashwini Aurangabadkar & Kirti Mangrulkar and participants also shared their experience after the workshop.
Workshop was largely attended by LEW members, lady entrepreneurs, working women, startups and all those who are interested in agri business.
Project Coordinator, Shachi Mallick said this era is of rainbow movement in which India progressing on each and every area such as education, infrastructure, technology and we have more young population so all must understand the scenario and try to show their talents in various field i.e. organic cultivation and value added products are very much needed to keep ones healthy. This is the time when entrepreneurs can bring different organic healthy products.
Earlier, Reeta Lanjewar, Chairperson of LEW in her welcome address said on the occasion of “Vasundhara Din†means World Earth Day is being celebrated every year on 22nd April and to mark this day, VIA LEW had organised three days workshop on ‘Entrepreneurship in Organic Nursery & Farming.’ She also informed about the objective of organising this workshop is to create awareness about organic farming and nursery by using natural methods of farming and also using natural methods to maintain the fertility and productivity of the soil.
Ashit Sinha, Mentor of Agro & Rural Development Forum summed up the event and said traditional farming practices never dies and experiences of ‘Organic Farmers’ shared by Ashwini Aurangabadkar and Kirti Mangrulkar, they both have adopted simple living style at their farms by avoiding modern technologies, he further added that their simplicity will never be an out of fashion.
Shachi Mallick was the Project Coordinator of the event. Manisha Bawankar, Secretary of LEW formally proposed a vote of thanks. Prominently present were Madhubala Singh, Poonam Lala, Anjali Gupta, Vandana Sharma, Yogita Deshmukh EC Member in the workshop.
