Foldscope workshop for tribal farmers in Tripura

Oct 24, 2018 • 4:27 AM UTC

Unknown Location

140x Magnification

Microorganisms

Sreerama Kumar Prakya

Learn about the author...

13posts

3comments

2locations

A workshop entitled “Utility of the Foldscope in Crop Protection: Assessment-cum-Training Workshop for Farmers” was conducted on 27 May 2018 at Shivnagar ADC village under Sumili Agri Sector in West Tripura district, by NBAIR in association with Tripura’s College of Agriculture. Eighteen tribal farmers, who generally grow paddy, pineapple, sweet orange, scented lemon besides several vegetables in their smallholdings, participated in the meet at the farmhouse of Mr Sanjit Debbarma , who was recognised in 2016 as the “Best Farmer” under MGNREGA by the Government of India. The farmers received hands-on training on use of the Foldscope, a cheap, paper-based microscope. The techniques of sample preparation, mounting of slides and visualisation of mounted samples under the Foldscope were demonstrated. A field visit was also arranged for the farmers. Dr Prakya Sreerama Kumar , Principal Scientist at NBAIR, organised this meet in collaboration with Dr Durga Prasad Awasthi , Assistant Professor (Plant Pathology), College of Agriculture, Lembucherra. Mr Kabir Debbarma (Agri Sector Officer of Sumili) and Dr Dharmendra Debbarma (Assistant Professor of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, Lembucherra) participated as extension specialists. This workshop formed part of the twinning component with Tripura’s College of Agriculture under the project funded by the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India. The event was extensively covered by local English and Bengali newspapers.