Bylakuppe: Organic Research Camp and Training Centre, Unit of the Central Tibetan Relief Committee of His Holiness the Dalai Lama (CTRC), Department of Home, CTA had organised three days of Training on “The soil health and watershed management” at District Agriculture Training Centre (DATC), Mysuru, Karnataka and College of Agriculture, University of Agriculture, Bangalore at Mandya for the AEO’s of Tibetan Agricultural settlement in India and Agriculture officers of Organic Research and Training (ORTC), Bylakuppe.

The training’s inaugural ceremony was graced by chief guest Dr Dhananjenay, Head of Districts Agriculture Centre (DATC) Naganahalli, Mysuru District, Karnataka State, who lit the lamp along with Dr Yogesh G.H., Deputy of Agriculture, Karnataka Agriculture Department of Agriculture, Bangalore, and Tsering Dorjee, Director, ORTC, a unit of Central Tibetan Relief Committee of Department of Home, CTA, Bylakuppe.

In his speech, the DATC Director stressed the importance of soil fertility, soil conservation, organic carbon, and water conservation. He also expressed that mismanagement or not managing water issues leads to major soil erosion, which we recently witnessed in the catastrophic Kerala flood. Additionally, he is optimistic that this training will be fruitful and helpful to all the AEOs from different Tibetan settlements.

This training aimed to equip AEOs with the necessary knowledge on Soil heat and Watershed management to disseminate the knowledge to Tibetan farmers further to improve soil health and soil and water conservation for sustainable agriculture development and natural resource management. The training was focused on the following subjects:

On the first day, Dr SS Prakash, Retd Soil Scientist Dean, College of Agriculture, VC Farm Mandya, taught AEOs about soil types, characteristics, and health principles, and Dr Yogesh GH, Soil and Water Conservation Expert. Ex-Head of DATC Naganahalli, Mysuru, Dr Thimme Gowda, Professor of Agronomy and head of GKVK Bangalore, took on the role of organic carbon in soil health management and practices to improve organic carbon in soils.

On the second day, Dr Suman R, Associate Professor and Head of College of Agriculture VC Farm Mandya, took soil sampling, nutrient deficiency symptoms, soil test-based fertilizer recommendations, types of fertilizers and fertilizers calculation and soil mapping of the state and villages. Dr Asha N, assistant professor at the College of Agriculture VC Farm Mandya, took “Role of Bio-fertilizers, usage in improving the soil health and crop productivity.” Dr Suma R and Dr Asha N have shown us their labs and bio-fertilizer production units on the VC farm.

Dr Ananth Kumar took a course on the management of problematic soils, alkaline soils, and sodic soils and visited the Zonal Agriculture Research Station (ZARS) near VC Farm, Mandya.

On the third day, Dr Yogesh G H, Soil and Water conservation expert training coordinator and Agriculture Officer, took us to see a project implemented by the Agriculture Department on Soil and Water Conservation (SWC) at Gundulpert village, Mysuru. He showed the different SWCs and explained the details of soil and water conservation structures constructed by the project. He also explained in detail AEO’s query on soil and water conservation.

The soil health and watershed management training was a success, with participants gaining valuable knowledge and skills to contribute to the sustainable management of watersheds. The training emphasized the importance of a holistic approach to improve soil health and watershed management. The participants had exposure visits to the practices of watershed management like checks-dams, TCB (Trench Cum Bunds) Ponds, Lakes etc.

ORTC organised this training, with technical assistance from DATC Naganahalli, Mysuru, Karnataka, and USAID funded it through The TIbet Fund.