Excursion to the Krishi Vigyan Mela, class XI ( Biology)

The Biology students of class XI were taken on an excursion on 26 February, 2014 to the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa Road, Delhi to see the Krishi Vigyan Mela. The institute has organised this Mela annually since 1972 and more than one lakh farmers visit this fair.

The event was organized to celebrate the farmers great contribution to our economy. There was a large congregation of farmers and other stake-holders from across the entire country. It was a joint effort of the Central and State Governments. One of the unique features of the event was that there were more than 300 live demonstrations of different crops, intensive interactions between farmers and scientists in regional languages etc.

Shri Sharad Pawar, Union Minister of Agriculture and Food Processing Industries, inaugurated the Pusa Krishi Vigyan Mela, whose theme was Agriculture Technologies for Farmers' Prosperity. Shri Pawar appreciated the efforts of agricultural scientists and called upon farmers to produce more pulses and oilseeds to meet the growing demand.

Various technologies developed by IARI were displayed in the thematic pandal, where some progressive farmers also shared their experiences of IARI technologies with the students. The students saw different varieties of pulses like kidney beans, chicken peas, etc and cereals like maize, wheat, rice, etc. Nutritionally- improved varieties of vegetables like the capsicum, cauliflower, broccoli, tomato, etc and fruit like the mango, bael, melons, banana were also displayed.

The students for an opportunity to interact with both the farmers and the scientists to understand the principles of the new technologies being used to conserve and recycle water. The students also got a chance to view diverse winter blossoms like the Petunia, Chrysanthemum, Rose, Phlox, Burbenia, etc. They were curious to know more about various facts of the fair and hoped to return next year.