A day-long training program in good agriculture practices (GAP) was organized for orange horticulture producers by Maharashtra Agribusiness Network (MAGNET) in association with the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Nagpur and Grant Thornton Bharat recently.
Over 300 orange cultivators from Nagpur and Amravati districts attended the workshop held on the IIM Nagpur campus.
MAGNET is an Asian Development Bank (ADB) assisted project to strengthen the horticulture value chain in Maharashtra. Grant Thornton Bharat is the Project Implementation Support Consultant for the MAGNET project.
The initiative is on a mission to train 30,000 horticulture producers across the state of Maharashtra.
Key horticulture experts provided guidance to the farmers on various topics like innovative ways to increase productivity, climate change, means of handling biotech stress, technology adaption, and implementation.
The training program was convened in the presence of Ms. Chantale Wong, Executive Director, ADB, Mr. Sergio Lugaresi, Executive Director, ADB, Mr. Sameer Kumar Khare, IAS, Executive Director, ADB, Mr. Takeo Konishi, Country Director, ADB, Mr. Anoop Kumar, IAS, ACS (Cooperation and Marketing), Dr. Bhimraya Metri, Director, IIM Nagpur, Dr. Vipin Itankar, IAS, Nagpur District Collector, and Mr. Yogesh Kumbhejkar, IAS, CEO, ZP Nagpur.
While explaining the idea behind conducting the training program at IIM Nagpur, Mr. Khare said, “MAGNET decided to tie up institutes of national repute for capacity building and exchange of knowledge in a more effective manner.
With various institutes involved in the process, knowledge sharing becomes easier under various government projects.” He appreciated the government of Maharashtra’s decision to assign IIM Nagpur for the project.
While presenting the journey of project MAGNET, Mr. Anoop Kumar said, “The ADB will provide loans to promote agribusiness network and boost incomes across the state. The project is expected to benefit 200,000 farmers.”
Ms. Chantale Wong, while addressing the farmers, showed keen interest in soil issues and climate change. She pointed out that the overuse of fertilizers, pesticides, and climate change have increasingly started impacting the world.
“Today migration from rural to urban India is the biggest issue. Smart agriculture is going to play a very important role in the development of our country,” Dr. Metri observed while addressing the farmers.
