NAMSAI, 26 May: The Agriculture Technology Management Agency, in collaboration with the Namsai Krishi Vigyan Kendra, conducted an interaction programme for farmers of Old Mohong II village on Tuesday.

As part of the nationwide campaign of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research to promote balanced use of fertilisers, the focus of the programme was on creating awareness among the farmers about different sources of soil nutrient and how to manage them.

The farmers were asked about the prevailing practices of soil health management and their responses were recorded. Based on that, the programme then moved on to discuss soil testing and relevance of soil health card.

According to the nutritional deficiencies indicated in the soil health cards of the farmers, different sources of macro and micro nutrients were advocated.

The discussion then went on to appropriate time and quantity of application of different forms of fertilisers and manure. Organic practices such as crop rotation with pulses like green gram, black gram, French bean, soybean etc, along with green manuring with dhaincha, azolla seed and seedling treatment with biofertilisers were also discussed with the farmers.

Vermicompost preparation and its application were explained in detail while encouraging the farmers to take up its production as a secondary income.

The programme ended with a visit to a nearby integrated horticulture farm managed by the community for diagnosis of soil health and disease-pest condition of the plants.