A walk through the Krishi Mela in Raiganj gave a feeling of walking in the farm with stalls of Mushrooms, Bananas, broccoli, Azola and vegetables on one side and live demonstration of good agricultural practices on the other side.

Partner representatives from farmers producer organisations and SHG’s were eagerly showing their produce to the people coming for the two days Krishi Mela organized by Caritas India, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and Social Welfare Institute (SWI), Raiganj on January 20-21, 2017.

In the prevailing agrarian crisis, smallholder farmers future is very blur due to the dual brunt of climate change and rising demand. Prime Minister of India gave a call to the nation of doubling farm incomes by 2022 and aims to reorient agriculture sector by shifting the approach from pure production-centeredness to farmers’ income-centeredness.

The krishi mela firmly took the theme of doubling farmer’s income by 2022 and strategically collaborated with NABARD in West Bengal and other eastern states to focus on tribal livelihood generation, organising producers groups especially women for enterprise development, promote learning across farming community and dissemination through joint workshop and seminars, mobilizing NABARD support on capacity building, small innovations and models to engage partners and initiate climate adaptive agriculture in vulnerable ecosystems

According to Mr. Mohit Sengupta, Honourable Member of Legislative Assembly, the Joint collaboration of NABARD, Caritas India and SWI will help farmers in the district to gain knowledge and share experiences of livelihood which is mainly agriculture.

Zilla Parishad Sabhadipati Mr. Purnendu Dey assured every possible support from his side to the farmers in this regard.

During the mela, Thematic Manager, Dr. Pallab De shared Caritas India presence in the field of Natural Resource Management, climate change and livelihood across India and the collaboration with NABARD and different Government projects. He also shared the learning’s of other livelihood projects of Caritas India operational in West Bengal.

3 farmers were felicitated during the mela to promote and encourage farmer’s initiative in producing cash crops/vegetables in the district. It was also decided to take their expertise as trainers to train other farmers.

Farmers from West Bengal exhibited various traditional and indigenous varieties of seeds which are mostly lost.  It was decided to revive the unique variety of rice ’Tulaipaji’ (Aromatic Rice) by maximizing use of organic manure and vermi compost to retain its fragrance with further support from District agriculture department for its marketing and coverage.

District Magistrate Ms. Aysha Rani Ali encouraged farmers and SHGs for taking up profitable enterprises. She suggested that they should not be depended on subsidized seeds and instruments from Government but rather become self-reliant and adopt improved ways of cultivation and practices in agriculture.