Maha farmers embark on foreign study tours on state funding

The Maharashtra Government has launched an ambitious initiative to 'educate' farmers in modern agriculture methods by part-funding their study tours abroad.

A group of 172 farmers from the state went to Europe earlier this year, visiting dairies and cheese processing units in Amsterdam and green-houses being run on solar energy in Germany.

The state government footed half of their expenses.

The next batch is set to leave for Europe later this month. The government also plans to send farmers to South America, South Africa, South East Asia, Australia and New Zealand. A budgetary allocation of Rs 10 crore has been made for the scheme.

Agriculture Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil said that besides learning new farming techniques, the farmers are also learning marketing strategies, local farming concepts, processing and preservation. Farmers also choose Brazil and Israel to observe drip irrigation techniques, he said.

The state agriculture department prepares the itinerary which includes visits to dairy farms, orchards, fruit processing centres, vegetable farms and greenhouses. The selection for the tour is on a 'first-come first-served basis' through applications submitted to regional offices. Two officials from the agriculture department and a translator accompany farmers, even as the state government is considering to rope in experts from agriculture colleges as well.