Capacity Development Report Promoting cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica) as drought resilient feed resource under different agroecological production systems Bhuj

Abstract

The field day organized on at Hatdi village, Mundra Taluka village (Bhuj) in the state of Gujarat, India Monday 17 February 2020. During this event more than 115 participants from different stakeholders (Regional Research Station, Kukma-Bhuj, Gujarat, ICAR-CAZRI staff, extension representative and office of agriculture and local NGOs were present), among these, 70% were females. During this event, the participants received information about the importance of cactus, cactus feeding practices video, package of practice for cactus and farmers’ experience on cactus cultivation. All participates had the chance to visit demonstration field of cactus. During the field visit, general discussion was made where all participants including farmers were able to ask questions, forward comments and suggest on how cactus can be scaled up in the future. Overall, the farmers were excited at the end of the field day. They mentioned that they were especially pleased with the fact that they had learnt about a new crop and farming techniques. Farmers requested the project to expand cactus dissemination to reach more farmers.