Pusa Krishi vigyan Mela 2025: Event for the farmers welfare by ICAR-IARI, New Delhi

ICAR is going to host 3 days of Pusa Krishi Vigyan Mela which starts from February 22 and ends on February 24 at its campus in the national capital Delhi. The main theme of this event is "Advanced Agriculture - Developed India".

New Delhi: On February 17 Hon'ble Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Shivraj Singh Chauhan announced the dates and further details of the upcoming pusa mela of 2025. He is going to be the chief guest of the inauguration function and along with the Sh. Ramnath Thakur, Hon'ble Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare will be the guest of honour during the event.

Pusa Mela is going to feature lots of demonstrations, exhibitions, and expert interactions to inform farmers and boost India's agricultural growth. The sessions will be presided over by Dr. Himanshu Pathak, Secretary DARE and Director General, ICAR.

The main attraction of Pusa Krishi Vigyan Mela for 2025 will be:

1. Live demonstration of the new varieties and technologies developed by IARI.
2. Exhibition on promising technologies, products, and services of IARI as well as ICAR Institute Agriculture Universities, KVKs, FPOs, entrepreneurs, start-ups, and public and private companies.
3. Technical sessions and interactive discussions between farmers and scientists on crucial topics, including climate-resilient agriculture, digital farming, crop diversification, entrepreneurship, agricultural marketing, and farmer innovations.
4. Sale of high-quality Pusa Seeds of important crop varieties.
5. On-spot agro-advisory services for farmers.

After relaxing the importance of climate change risk and nutrition needs, the research program at IARI sets remarkable bars in developing climate-resilient and biofortified crop varieties. The aim of this fair is to provide farmers with knowledge about new agricultural technologies, advanced seeds, modern farming methods, and innovations in the agriculture sector.

Additionally, farmers will be informed about new opportunities in the field of entrepreneurship to help them progress in this area. Farmers will also receive advanced seeds for various crops during the event.

Advanced Seeds of Paddy and Other Crops to Be Distributed

At the Pusa Mela, farmers will have the opportunity to purchase seeds of advanced varieties of Basmati rice, including Pusa Basmati 1, Pusa Basmati 1121, Pusa Basmati 1509, Pusa Basmati 1918, Pusa Basmati 1847, Pusa Basmati 1886, Pusa Basmati 1728, Pusa Basmati 1985, P 2090, PS 6 (1401), PA 16, PS 5 (2511), and Pusa Samnha 1850. These advanced seeds are aimed at enhancing productivity and yield for farmers.

In addition to Paddy Seeds, Farmers Will Receive Seeds of the Following Crops:

• Moong (Green Gram): Varieties include P-1431, P Vishal, and P1641.
• Bajra (Pearl Millet): Pusa Composite 701.
• Arhar (Pigeon Pea): P Arhar 2018-1 and P Arhar 2017-4.
• Okra (Ladyfinger): Pusa A5.
• Cowpea: Pusa Sukomal.
• Bottle Gourd: Pusa Naveen.
• Lemon: Kagzi Kalan.

In addition to these, farmers will also receive kits of seasonal vegetable crop seeds to promote diversified farming.

IARI introduced 268 improved vegetable varieties across 48 crops. These include high-nutrient varieties such as Pusa Prateek and Pusa Rudhira (carrot), Pusa Lal Bhindi-1 (okra), Pusa Vilayati Palak (spinach), and Pusa Purple Broccoli-1. Disease-resistant brinjal, onion, cucumber, bitter gourd, muskmelon, and Indian bean varieties further reduce pesticide use and cultivation costs.

The farm sun fridge developed by ICAR-IARI is an off-grid, battery-less solar refrigerator and evaporative cooled(SREC) structure. The main objective of this technology is to have solar cold stores on farm fields. The cold store is used for the storage of perishables.

With a strong emphasis on technology-driven sustainable agriculture, PKVM 2025 will serve as a crucial platform for knowledge exchange between researchers, policymakers, and farmers.