TN to appoint agricultural scientists to guide, support farmers

Chennai, May 31 (IANS) The Tamil Nadu state government will soon appoint agriculture scientists in each taluk to support and guide farmers in the state.

These scientists would be providing advice on the latest technology, high-yielding crop varieties, and also crop protection methods using the latest technical solutions.

These agricultural scientists would be recruited from agriculture colleges, research institutions in agriculture and with the guidance and support from Tamil Nadu Agriculture University, sources said.

The sources in the state agriculture department told IANS that the state government is planning to infuse a fresh impetus and confidence among farmers by appointing these agricultural scientists in each taluk.

A senior officer of the state agriculture department while speaking to IANS said: "The appointment of agriculture scientists who are well versed in all the modern methods of farming will provide a major support base to the farmers so that they feel confident and equipped to deal with any issues that come up including crop failure and withering of crops due to pest attack."

He added that these newly-appointed agriculture scientists would support farmers in value addition of their produce thus increasing commercial viability and thereby economic independence to farmers.

The scientists would also conduct research on basic statistics like rainfall, crop yield, details of the soil, pest statistics and infrastructure facilities and provide a roadmap to the farmers.

The agricultural scientists would warn the farmers of pest attacks locally and at the state level and direct them to take necessary precautions to prevent major crop losses.

The farmers would be provided with marketing support and would be trained in post-harvest grading of crops with guidance from the scientists.

However, farmers are not impressed with the proposal. R. Arumugasamy, a farmer association leader at Erode while speaking to IANS said, "This is only a hype that the government is creating regarding the appointment of new agriculture scientists but instead they should be providing training to the farmers at the grassroots level."

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