TG Life
On August 18, a group of students from Don Bosco College of Agriculture, Sulcorna conducted a workshop for farm women of Vagon “ Kirlapal (Dharbandora). About thirty farm women participated in the workshop where they had discussion regarding kitchen gardening. This workshop was held with the aim to motivate rural farm women to grow vegetables and fruits in their kitchen gardens.
Agriculture student Kartik Vaiz educated women with regard to authentic certified seeds. Different classes of seeds viz., nuclear, breeder, foundation, certified and truthfully labeled seeds and their importance was discussed. Seed production techniques were also thought to the women. Sandesh Gaonkar demonstrated various techniques to identify the viability of seeds and to check their germination percentage by which one can know the worth of seeds of particular crop. Saheel Velip demonstrated various seed treatments with bio-fungicides and bio-fertilizers wherein emphasis was made on ‘Trichoderma’ which protects seeds against seed borne and soil borne diseases like ‘damping off’ of seedlings. Mushroom cultivation is empowering rural women by which they can generate revenue and it is becoming a practice of interest and need. Sapnesh Tawadkar and Akshay Gaonkar demonstrated on cultivation of Oyster mushrooms using paddy straw as substrate. They taught different practices that need to be followed during the cultivation of mushrooms and hinted on the precautions that need to be taken to avoid contamination of mushrooms. Farm women had various difficulties which makes them difficult to grow crops. They had various problems regarding pest and disease management of crops like chillies, okra, etc. Nandesh Gaonkar and Ryan Mascarenhas helped the women by recommending various integrated disease and pest management techniques. Students even visited the nearby kitchen gardens and helped the rural women to improve their package of practices with regards to cultivation of various fruits and vegetable crops.
