Manipur aims to boost Rabi maize cropping system in State

In a move to make public the potentialities of Rabi maize cropping system in Manipur and awareness of improved technologies for its popularization, a two day training programme on ‘Maize based cropping system for improving livelihood and nutritional security of small and marginal farmers’ comes to an end at Indian council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)-Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) Monsangpantha, Chandel district headquarters, 70 km south of Imphal in Manipur. The training programme was organized by ICAR for North Eastern Hill Region, Manipur Centre and KVK, Chandel in collaboration with ICAR-Indian Institute of Maize Research, Ludhiana. The critical inputs like maize seed (High Quality Protein Maize or HQPM-1) and biofertilizers were also distributed along with other seeds for intercropping with maize like Garden pea (Arkel), Frenchbean, Rapeseed and mustard (M-27) to all the farmers during the sessions. Farmers from Lambung, Lamphoupasna, Panchai, Riverline, Chandanpokpi, Ziontlang numbering around 110 participated in the training programme. They also highlighted the importance of maize as essential feed ingredient for poultry, piggery and fisheries in addition to the normal human consumption and as a sustainable crop in the upland hills of Manipur. It may be worth mentioning that Manipur imports feed from other states for livestock and fishery. They have also highlighted the importance of conservation of water resources and tapping the irrigation potential so that cropping system intensify with more than two crops in a year.