Farmers Provided Best Varieties of Vegetables & Bio-Fertilizers to Boost Organic Farming

During a farmer meeting and training programme held on Monday in Bahdurpur village in Chaubepur area, the best varieties of vegetables, including palak, chaurai, nenua, taruyi, lauki, and kohara, and bio-fertilizers were distributed to the farmers for growing vegetables in kitchen gardens or on rooftops.

Dr. Jay Prakash Verma, senior assistant professor at the Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development at BHU, organised the event as part of a project sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) titled "Developing Low-Cost Technology for Organic Vegetable Production Through Vertical Farming."

The programme aims to motivate farmers to grow chemical-free vegetables, such as green leafy vegetables, which are a source of micronutrients and food that boosts immunity.

Dr. Verma has been researching plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), endophytes, biofertilizers, decomposers, and biocontrolling agents over the past 15 years in order to create prospective microbial inoculants for Uttar Pradesh's diverse crop production. Dr. Verma and his team isolated soil bacteria from soil samples they had taken from the rhizosphere in Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Mirzapur, Chanduauli, Varanasi, Allahabad, Sonbhadra, Lucknow, Pratapgarh, Meerut, Balllia, Ghazipur, Gorakhpur, and other locations.

Following isolation, the plant growth-promoting characteristics were assessed for the development of effective and native microbial inoculants as prospective biofertilizers for the production of diverse crops. In order to produce the most veggies and green leafy vegetables possible utilising a vertical farming system, Dr. Verma discussed kitchen gardening and composting kitchen waste in order to turn it into compost that can be used for vegetable production in one's own garden or in any plastic tub. In this way, producers are able to grow crops both indoors and outside.

What is Organic Farming?

Organic farming is a system which avoids or largely excludes the use of synthetic inputs (such as fertilizers, pesticides, hormones, feed additives, etc.) and to the maximum extent feasible rely upon crop rotations, crop residues, animal manures, off-farm organic waste, mineral grade rock additives and biological system of nutrient mobilization and plant protection.