By Bijoy Handique

 

Jorhat : I had number of meeting with the Chief Minister, Tea planters, village people and many other and tried to see the scope  for cooperation with Norway and the state of Assam and get knowledge about the economic situation and one aspect is very clear from this visit is that the central role played by the agriculture in the state of Assam when 65 to 67% of the population is engaged in agriculture, that means poverty alleviation, economy development of the state, agriculture is the key, so improvement of this is very vital, said Nils Ragnar Kamsvag, the Ambassador of Norway during Resilience project launched , jointly hoisted by Assam Agricultural University (AAU) and Norwegian Institute of Bio-Economy research (NIBIO) during his key note address at the Board Room, AAU campus here at Jorhat today.

 

The Norway Ambassador Kamsvag said that the second aspect is that the first leading climatic scientists emphasized on the climatic change which could be felt in every aspect of agriculture. Climatic change is already happening faster than expected level , hence urgent action and more ambition are needed to combat to fight with the climatic change. Norway is increasingly focused on Climate Smart Agriculture Technology for food security and cross cutting issues etc. Before end of this year government will prepare an action plan in this area for combating climatic change which is is the key priority for our government as it is for the Indian Government also. We are among the first state to formally join the perish agreement and to combat with the problem by2025.

 

Similarly we strongly believed in sustainable production, climate adaptation, prevention of natural disaster for achieving sustainable development. We also believed that India and the state like Assam are centre to this two agenda even if you score as an emerging market which h quoted the vice chancellor AAU for speaking over the agendas and also we also believe that no goal can be achieve without the genuine participation of women and strong focus on women’s role in agriculture. To achieve this ambitious goal we require new knowledge and mentors. It also requires collaboration across discipline institutions, countries and people and for climate adaptation for instance we require relatively new policy, technology and research area. This is also by nature and inter-disciplinary area for which we wants research, policy development and implementation has to go hand in hand so partnership is vital .Launching this project will enhance Assam and Orissa in food security as well as to combat with the climatic change and also it has a great value that will bring number of research institutions together with different competences and will have different collaboration with Assam, Orissa and Norway, Ambassador Kamsvag further added.

 

We collaborated with National Initiative on Climatic Resilience and Agriculture (NICRA) is around the country of 28 states including ours in which Assam Agricultural University is a partner in that and our NICRA project had been awarded with the best NICRA project in the country continuously for three years and this project have been implemented in mid-Brahmaputra zone which is going on for past six to seven years, and while interacting with farmers we came to know that the science of diversification that was brought into pushing in the sort of Agro-Ecology-Improvement kind of technology that they have worked a lot and farmers were very very happy to find an alternative project like Resilience among others which will  improved livelihoods, food , nutrition and security for small holders, said Dr. Kamal Malla Bujarbaruah, the vice chancellor of AAU during his address in the open session.

 

Uday Sekhar Nagathu, director of Centre for International Development (NIBIO), Norway during his speech spoke that the overall goal of the project is to improve agricultural productivity, adaptive capacity and livelihoods of small holders to climate and economic changes by building resilience and strengthening  the agri-product market value change. The project will be implemented in the two states of Odisha and Assam located in the east and north east of India. Measures will be spread out in four districts, where selected climate smart agriculture technologies will be demonstrate and upscale in close cooperation with farmers and other stake holders.

 

Earlier the Assam Agriculture Minister Atul Bora congratulated representative from Norway Assam Agricultural University who in behalf of the state government and specially thank AAU vice chancellor Dr. KM Bujarbaruah for joining hands with Norway for  the project which will be funded by Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway and Royal Norwegian Embassy, New Delhi through which Assam will witness improved agricultural output  and strengthening the agri-product market value among small holders.(Ends)