Faculty members of Jharkhand-based IIT (Indian School of Mines-ISM) in Dhanbad offered farming tips and information about government schemes to villagers of drought-hit Kanadend in Jamtara district of the state as part of their effort to transform the lives of tribal farmers.
“The ongoing initiative of IIT (ISM) faculty members to transform the lives of tribal farmers of Jamtara which began around 15 months ago, reached Kanakend village of Kundhit block of Jamtara on Monday with the aim of apprising the villagers about the ways of increasing their income by tapping the farm-based entrepreneurship opportunities,” said dean corporate communication of the institution, Rajni Singh.
The interaction with the tribal farmers was held at a workshop held at Bankathi panchayat of the village as part of the department of science and technology sponsored project, titled, “Improving the wellbeing scheduled tribe communities using game theoretics and operations research technique in Jamtara district.
“We came to know during the interaction with altogether 30 scheduled tribe farmers who were present in the meeting that their condition is not good due to drought-like situations for the last two years in continuation,” said assistant professor, department of management studies and industrial engineering, IIT (ISM), Rashmi Singh who is also the principal investigator of the project.
“Agriculture being the main source of income they are facing difficulties in
livelihood and we apprised them about the methods like drip irrigation, mulching, use of composts, cover crops and cultivating drop tolerant species and varieties and
monitoring soil temperature and moisture so that watering can be optimised,” added Singh.
“Villagers were apprised of the various central government and state government schemes like Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojna, Rainfed Area Development Programme, National Rural Drinking Water programme meant for the drought areas,” said Singh.