Farmers from Basti district in Uttar Pradesh underwent comprehensive training on "Improved Production Technologies for Hi-Tech Banana Cultivation" at the ICAR-National Research Centre for Banana (ICAR-NRCB), in collaboration with the State Department of Agriculture, Uttar Pradesh. This training aimed to equip them with the latest technologies for cultivation of banana for domestic and export, including automation, sensor-based irrigation systems, IoT-enabled disease detection, and the production of value-added products using drone technology.

During the program, Dr. R. Selvarajan, the Director of ICAR-NRCB highlighted the institution's global leadership in banana research and its significance. He said that the Centre has Asia's largest gene bank for banana. He noted that over the past year, ICAR-NRCB has developed 50 technologies and acquired four patents. The institution is also actively engaged in gene editing to combat fusarium wilt which is a major issue in Uttar Pradesh. He also informed the UP farmers that the Centre has developed ‘Grand Naine’ mutants resistant to wilt diseases and “No2Wilt” bio consortium to combat the disease.

Dr. R.Selvarajan acknowledged the support of Shri Andra Vamsi, District Magistrate of Basti district, for facilitating the program.

Dr. C. Karpagam, Principal Scientist (Agricultural Extension), emphasized that the trained farmers from Basti district would play a crucial role as para-extension workers, disseminating knowledge in their villages on behalf of ICAR-NRCB. Dr. V. P. Singh, an expert on Banana Tissue Culture, delivered a talk on hi-tech tissue culture techniques during the training. Drs. V. Kumar, I. Ravi, K. J. Jeyabaskaran and K.N.Shiva coordinated the programme and handled the different technical session of the programme.

As part of the program, farmers were also taken to export cluster, Theni and also Thirukatupalli to witness garden land and wetland banana cultivation practices, as well as the adoption of various technologies used for banana export. The event commenced with a welcome address by Dr. S. Giri Babu, Senior Scientist, and concluded with a vote of thanks delivered by Dr. A. Mohanasunaram.