'Local youth should be trained in various sectors'

Kolkata: Purnendu Bose, minister of Technical Education, Training & Skill Development in the state on Tuesday stressed the importance of training among local youths in various sectors like soil testing labs, soil diagnosis, seed production and production of bio-fertilisers.

If the unemployed youths are trained in these sectors they will be able to contribute towards the growth of agri-economy in the state, Bose said. He was speaking at the final day of Rural Connect-2018, organised by The Bengal Chamber at Biswa Bangla Convention Centre on Tuesday.

"For quality crop production a sound knowledge of superior quality seed production is a must. There is need for training on how to use fertilisers and water judiciously. It has been observed that plants treated with bio-fertilisers give better results than those on chemicals. The whole concept of using the bio-fertilisers opens up immense scopes for training and employment," Bose maintained.

He also added that there are various government departments that are rendering assistance on skill developments, thereby helping village youths to get employed. Farmers need to learn the art of business, accounting operations, banking operations and how to market their produce, the minister said. It may be mentioned that the Utkarsh Bangla Scheme which was launched by the Bengal government has been providing vocational training to unemployed youths. The beneficiaries of the scheme are being imparted knowledge on skill development.

"It is crucial to train farmers. There are about 72 lakh farming families in the state. We also need to identify the youths who have some expertise and experience. They will be trained and then sent to fields where they can apply their knowledge during cultivation. We need to have a target to move forward," Bose added.

During his speech, Prof Swapan Kumar Dutta, Former DDG (ICAR) and V-C, Visva Bharati University said Bengal has a wide range of indigenous medicinal plants which can play a very important role in human health in 21st Century. There is a need to create conducive environment to grow these in controlled green houses or glass houses so that mass production can be achieved.

Prasanta Kr Sarkar, director West Bengal State Medicinal Plant Board who was present in the programme, said medicinal plants are used in general medicine, Ayurveda, Unani, Homeopathic and Siddha medicines. Around 12.5 percent modern medicines are from medicinal plants. Medicinal plants are chiefly exported to the UK, the US, Germany, Japan, Pakistan, Phillipines, Bangladesh.

Currently, medicine plants are also being grown as cluster cultivation where three different plants are grown together in a common space.