Workshop on area expansion of Sunflower and Sesame in non-traditional areas of Eastern India

As a follow up action to the Annual Group Meeting of AICRP, Sunflower held at OUAT, Bhubaneswar, a one-day workshop on area expansion of sunflower and sesame in non-traditional areas of Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal was organized by Zonal Project Directorate, Zone-II at Kolkata on 9.6.2015. The day-long programme was meant for assessing the possibility to take up demonstration programme both on sunflower and sesame with seed and technical support from IIOR, Hyderabad. The scientists of ZPD-II  highligted the purpose as well as importance of such programme in the zone giving detailed account of area covered and varieties grown in the zone. Dr. K.S. Varaprasad, Director, IIOR while chairing the workshop emphasized on brining more areas under these crops in the eastern part of the country to fulfill the commitment made to PMO. The representatives of Krishi Vigyan Kendras and Directorate of Extension Education, SAUs presented the status of cultivation of sunflower and sesame in the respective districts/states. They also highlighted the issues like non-availability of improved seeds and lack of market facility in the states that prevented farmers to go for large-scale production of the oilseeds. Detailed discussion on the raised issues led to the following decisions:

  • Demonstration on sunflower will be carried out on 50 ha. Area in Bihar with DRSH-1 variety during rabi 2015-16. Seeds will be made available by IIOR.
  • In Jharkhand, 100 ha area will be brought under sesame during kharif 2015. Variety GT-2 will be introduced in the selected districts by IIOR.
  • For the state of West Bengal, 50 ha area will be covered during rabi 2015-16 under sunflower and 30 ha under sesame during summer 2015-16. IIOR, Hyderabad will make available sunflower (KBSH-41/KBSH-53) and sesame (GT-2) seeds.
  • A training of two-day duration will be organized on oilseed production technology for the KVKs and extension functionaries of three states at ZPD, Kolkata and Directorates of Extension Education will conduct two training programme of two-day duration for extension functionaries and input dealers.
  • KVKs will try to form producers’ group to collect the produce in one place for the private companies to buy the produces. IIOR will coordinate between the producers’groups and private companies.
  • The entire demonstration process will be monitored at ZPD level with the support of IIOR.