India's milk, egg production registers 6% increase despite coronavirus

Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy, milk and egg production in India has increased by 6 per cent, said Dr Trilochan Mohapatra, Director General of Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE).

The pandemic has not stopped the farmers who are busy in their farms and they have not allowed agricultural production to get affected, Dr Mohapatra said while addressing a three-day national e-conference organised by the Institute of Agricultural Sciences (IAS), faculty of agriculture of the SOA Deemed to be University, which kicked-off on Monday.

Stating that diversified agriculture was the measuring rod for the agricultural economy, he said there was a need for new scientific inputs for increasing production of pulses in the country.

The inaugural session of the conference was also addressed by Prof DP Ray, Principal Advisor to SOA's Founder President and former Vice-Chancellor of OUAT, Prof. Ashok Kumar Mahapatra, Vice-Chancellor of SOA and Prof. Premananda Mohapatra, Dean (PG) of IAS and Prof. Bijay Kumar Sahu, Dean, IAS. Prof. Bibudh Parashar coordinated the inaugural session.

Faculty members Suchismita Mohapatra and Bhubanananda Adhikari coordinated the two workshops which followed the inaugural function. Dr Jyoti Ranjan Das, SOA's Dean (Students' Welfare) was also present.

Over 200 delegates are attending the e-conference from different parts of the country.