Bhubaneswar: The state government's director of agriculture and food production laid stress on the monetary benefits that technology can gain for farmers.

Addressing the plenary session at the end of the State-Level Research and Extension Council (SLREC) meeting at the Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology that concluded on Sunday, chief guest M. Muthukumar said: "We need to focus on non-paddy crops to improve productivity and make the state self-sufficient. The government would take all such technologies that the varsity has developed for large-scale dissemination. In the next five years, Odisha will be nationally recognised as a state with the best adoption of higher technology," he said.

Varsity vice-chancellor Surendranath Pasupalak, in his presidential remarks, suggested re-orientation of research and extension activities of the varsity to benefit the poorest of the poor.

"Krishi Vigyan Kendras will take steps to promote critical technologies and intensify such interventions," he said, adding that they should take steps to develop community entrepreneurship in linking non-timber forest products and other traditional products to the market.

"The university has been consistently developing technology focussed on themes and commodity and suitable for agro eco-systems and different clientele groups. These need to be carried forward to the farmers. The 31 Krishi Vigyan Kendras have made several interventions in areas of technology assessment, refinement, and demonstrations beyond those to reach out to the rural poor with need-based technologies, critical production inputs and skill inputs," said K. Roul, dean, extension education.

"The transferable technologies that we have developed will be communicated to make it possible to reach the farmers," he said.