A farmers training- cum- sangosthi on “Integrated Disease Management (IDM) in Kharif crops” was organized by the ICAR-Directorate of Weed Research, Jabalpur (M.P.) on 13th July 2021 under ‘Bharat ki Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ programme in a virtual mode. A total number of 120 participants including farmers, subject matter specialists, researchers, students and other stake holders from different districts of Madhya Pradesh (Damoh, Sehore, Hoshangabad, Jabalpur, Balaghat, Vidisha, Shajapur, Khandwa, Seoni, Agar malwa, Raisen,Ujjain, Chhindwara, Rajgarh, Narsingharh ,Ratlam and Guna), Gujarat, Rajsthan, Bihar, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh participated in the programme.

Dr. J.S. Mishra, Director, ICAR-DWR, welcomed the participants and briefed about the status of integrated disease management in Kharif crops. He informed that disease alone can cause 20-22% of yield loss in various field crops. In order to achieve higher crop productivity and farmers income, it is important to identify the disease timely and manage effectively. Dr. Pramod Kumar Gupta, Scientist (Plant Pathology), JNKVV Jabalpur (MP) and the lead speaker made the farmers aware of the integrated disease management technologies in different Kharif crops. He briefed about the key principles of IDM, for eco-friendly management of plant diseases. For the successful implementation of IDM strategies, there is a need to have several policies in the sector of land use, education and awareness, plant protection, trade and export, private sector investment, agricultural extension and food safety. He suggested to use the pesticides effectively and accurately to reduce harmful side effects on human, as well as on environment. He also briefed about the advantages of summer ploughing to reduce soil- borne fungi, spore formulation, weeds and other viral vectors. He explained about the proper selection and use of fungicides for seed treatment before sowing; mechanical disease control methods, and calculating the accurate dose of fungicides.

Dr. P.K. Singh, Principal Scientist and PI, Bio-Tech KISAN Hub project educated the farmers about different diseases in Kharif crops, importance and timely management of disease through Integrated Disease Management. During interaction with the farmers Dr. V.K. Choudhary, Sr. Scientist & Co-PI of the project explained the importance of weed management practices in soybean, rice and other crops. During this session problems raised by the farmers were appropriately addressed. Er. Chethan, C.R., Scientist & Co-PI of the project explained about importance of nozzle selection, proper application of agro- chemicals, safety precautions to be followed while spraying of herbicides. Webinar was ended with vote of thanks.