During the years 2018-20, under the Scheduled Tribe Component (STC), ICAR-IIAB supported more than 3,000 tribal farm families from 120 villages of nine districts of Jharkhand, namely Latehar, Hazaribag, Ranchi, Khunti, Giridih, Chatra, Jamtara, Gumla, and Ramgarh. Under STC, besides the critical agricultural inputs, ICAR-IIAB provided improved production technologies
for field crop, horticulture, agroforestry, fishery, piggery, and backyard poultry to the tribal farmers. The interventions taken up under STC were (1) the promotion of the cultivation of drought-tolerant high yielding rice variety DRR – Dhan 42 along with the other high yielding rice varieties namely Sahabhagi Dhan, Abhishek and Lalat recommended for the state, (2) the promotion of the cultivation of high-yielding Indian Mustard varieties namely NRCHB-101, PM- 26 and PM-27 in the rice fallows for increasing the cropping intensity and farm income, (3) introduction of an early maturing (maturing in ˂100 days), bold seeded (3.34g/1000 grains), high-yielding (25-30 q/ha), and finger and neck blast-resistant cultivar of finger millet namely VL Mandua 352, developed by ICAR – Vivekananda Parvatiya Krishi Anusandhan Sansthan, Almora (ICAR-VPKAS), (4) promotion of the cultivation of papaya, one of the most profitable horticultural cash crop, (5) the promotion and popularization of improved breeds of pig, fish and poultry, and (6) the promotion of the cultivation of mahogany, a fast-growing high-value timber tree, as an agroforestry component for a long-term improvement of the livelihood of the tribal farmers, (7) introduction of light-weight VL metallic hand tools for smooth intercultural operations, and Vivek Millet Thresher-cum-Pearler, to the mandua growers. The critical inputs like seeds, fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, antibiotics, pheromone traps etc. for taking up around 1,000 hectares of rice and 500 hectares of mustard cultivation; 5.5 q of quality seeds of VL mandua 352 for cultivation in 55.0 ha of land; 20,000 seedlings along with fertilizers, anti-termite chemicals etc. for taking up high-intensity papaya cultivation in around 20 hectares of land; 150 Jharsuk piglets along with 2,250 kg of pig grower feed and 300 kg of an area-specific mineral mixture for promoting high-income piggery enterprise; 1,25,000 fish fingerlings along with 35,00 kg of floating fish feed for homestead ponds; 620 Divyayan Red chicks and Khaki Campbell ducklings along with 3,000 kg poultry feed for backyard poultry; 2,000 saplings of mahogany for agroforestry interventions; 20 rocking sprayers for spraying of nutrients/insecticides/fungicides in orchards; 298 VL metallic tool kits/minor agricultural implements; 100 paddy threshers; 08 solar drier; 20 units of Vivek Millet Thresher-cum-Pearler,and 10 vermi-strainers for promoting vermicomposting from agricultural wastes, were provided to the tribal farmers. Moreover, ICAR-IIAB organized a series of farmer-scientist interaction meetings, on-farm training, field days, on-farm trials, farmers’ fair and outstation exposure visits, etc. for increasing the knowledge and awareness among the tribal farmers. Four short terms (4-5 days) training on mustard cultivation, pisciculture, and pig farming were also organized for the tribal farmers. ICAR-IIAB provided specialized training on Farmer Producer Organization (FPO), processing of wood apple for RTS drink, processing of jackfruit for short-term storage as a vegetable to induce entrepreneurship among the tribal farmers. A multidisciplinary team of scientists from ICAR-IIAB, Ranchi regularly monitored the implementation of the STC program.
TSP Success Stories
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