IGKV sets up ‘Crop Cafeteria’ to teach students about separate crops

Department of Agronomy in Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya (IGKV) Raipur has developed a ‘Crop Cafeteria’ in the university’s farm to make students familiar about separate crops and its features.

The brainchild behind the innovative idea of establishing ‘Crop Cafeteria’ for teaching purposes was Dr K L Nandeha, head of the university’s Department of Agronomy.
“The Crop Cafeteria has been established in the university’s farm and around 30 different varieties of crops are currently planted in the cafeteria. The planted crops include different types of grains, lentils, oilseeds, fiber crops and fodders,” said Dr Nandeha, elaborating that the cafeteria was established last year.
Detailing about the objective of setting-up Crop Cafeteria, Dr Nandeha said that the initiative aims to make students of first year aware about different crops. Here at the cafeteria, students are taught about details of separate crops which include crops’ Hindi, English and botanical names; their types; growth status; yield capacity; how diseases contracted to separate crops; pathogen/insect attacks and others. Crops of both Kharif and Rabi are sown in the cafeteria as per the season.
The cafeteria is being exclusively managed and handled by the department’s professor, added Dr Nandeha.
More importantly, the cultivation of those crops which are not practices in plain areas of Raipur and adjacent districts are also planted here in the cafeteria, said Dr Nandeha, adding that these crops, which are practiced in tribal-dominated areas of the state and popularly known as tribal crops, are not familiar to students as they haven’t seen it earlier.