Tawang, Sep 15: Buckwheat Field Day & Farmer-Scientist Interaction was organized at Gyangkhar village on September 10 last under NEH programme of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) to raise awareness among farmers on the early maturing variety introduced in the district earlier this year.
Buckwheat, also known as fafar and kuttu, is a potential crop of Tawang, and both the types of buckwheat (common buckwheat and tartary buckwheat) are cultivated in the district. Compared to common buckwheat, tartary buckwheat takes longer to mature. During Kharif 2024, demonstrations of high yielding and early maturing common buckwheat variety VL Ugal 7 developed at ICAR-VPKAS, Almora were conducted in different villages of the district in collaboration with KVK Tawang with the objective of enhancing buckwheat productivity.
During the interaction with the farmers, Dr RK Khulbe, Principal Scientist, ICAR-VPKAS apprised the farmers of the initiatives taken for promotion of millets and potential crops in the district that include introduction of improved buckwheat variety VL Ugal 7. 
Senior Scientist & Buckwheat Breeder Dr DC Joshi highlighted the advantages of growing the high yielding and early maturing buckwheat variety VL Ugal 7 and explained in detail how higher profit can be earned from the crop through value addition. While urging the farmers to share the seed of VL Ugal 7 produced by them with other farmers for wider dissemination of the variety, he informed the farmers about the additional precautions to be taken during buckwheat seed production due to its highly cross-pollinated nature.
Dr Kushagra Joshi, Senior Scientist (Family Resource Management) apprised farmers of the drudgery involved in the harvesting and dehulling of buckwheat. Awareness about associated health hazards in post-harvest activities, as well as potential measures to mitigate drudgery and health hazards, was raised to ensure safety by the farmers. 
Er. Shyam Nath highlighted the role of engineering interventions in post-harvest processing of buckwheat and explained how their adoption can save time and cost and reduce the drudgery involved in post-harvest processing, besides minimising losses and improving quality of the produce. 
Dr CK Singh, SMS Agronomy, KVK Tawang, who has been instrumental in dissemination ICAR –VPKAS, technologies including buckwheat variety VL Ugal 7 in the district, informed that due to its shorter duration the variety is expected to gain popularity among the farmers. 

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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