Save crops with ‘Plant Clinics’ – Now Open in Odisha

August 2017: A mission to save sick plants, the ‘Plant Clinics’ that has been on in five states of India, has now been launched in Odisha. are now MSSRF launched two Plant Clinics in Kundra and Boipariguda Blocks of Koraput district in July 2017, Each clinic covers a cluster of 10-15 hamlets each.

The Plant Clinics in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana and Maharashtra were set up by MSSRF with the financial support from The Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI) 

Progressive farmers are trained as Plant Doctors and they help farmers identify pests and diseases, providing diagnoses and management advice for any problem and any crop. This helps the farming community to take appropriate actions and protect their crop. It first started in 2010 in Tamil Nadu.

The Jeypore site with small and marginal farmers and a predominantly tribal population, harbours subsistence farming. Pests and diseases are the major limiting factors in addition to erratic monsoon, flash floods, landslides, prolonged drought and variable soil fertility.

In this juncture, Plant Clinics at the farmers door step will bring about a change in the lives of the rural poor and help reduce the crop loss and feed more.

The Deputy Director of Agriculture, Jeypore Shri. Kalidash Biswas launched the program along with Mr Venkat Reddy, Soil Scientist, Mr. Tusar Ranjan Swain, Plant Protection Officer. The DDA spoke of how the plant clinic is a newconcept which will help farmers diagnose the pest and diseases correctly. Proper remedial methods can be adopted by the farmers in right time which will help reduce crop loss to a great extent. He assured support of the Department of Agriculture through the process. Ms. Nancy J Anabel, Programme Director, Information, Education and Communication, MSSRF Chennai, Dr. E.D.I. Oliver King, Director-in-Charge, MSSRF, Jeypore spoke on the occasion.

Reported by: Mr. Prashant Kumar Parida and Dr. S. Malarvannan, MSSRF, Jeypore