The Rural Program Advisory Committee(RPAC) meeting of Farm and Home Section of AIR Thiruvananthapuram was convened at Gandhi Bhavan, Thycaud on 07.04.2016. RPAC meetings are held once every three months to discuss and review the programmmes of Farm and Home section. Meeting aims to get inputs from various stake holders in the agriculture sector. Farmers, representatives of Various Government departments, farming community members, NGO's, heads of various Social Service Organisations etc frequent the meeting. In the meeting, an outline of the programme agenda of Farm and Home for next three months is decided. Meeting also reviews the aired programmes of last three months.
The RPAC meeting of this quarter was held in association with Kerala Gandhi Smaraka Nidhi which is a voluntary organization in Kerala established in the memory of the great Father of the Nation. The meeting was presided by Shri R. C Gopal, Station Director of AIR Thiruvananthapuram. In his presidential address, Shri R. C Gopal spoke about Akashavani’s unflinching commitment to social causes and public broadcasting. He thanked the attendees for the benevolent support extended to Akashavani, especially to Farm and Home broadcasting. He also informed the meeting that Farm and Home section of AIR Thiruvananthapuram has brought in 75 lacs as revenue to the coffers of Akashavani.
The event was graced by Padmsree N Gopinathan Nair, chairman of All India Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, who also inaugurated the function. In his inaugural address he spoke about the Japan Model Agriculture which emphasized on productivity along with production. And stressed on the need to adopt the same in India. He briefly spoke about ‘Gandhi Smaraka Nidhi’s activities in the rural agriculture and marketing area.
Later a review of the last three months programmes was presented by Shri Muraleedharan Thazhakara, Programme Executive, Farm and Home, AIR Thiruvananthapuram. And the members proceeded to discuss the programmes planned for the next quarter. Climate change and marketing of farm produce stole the show. Members deliberated on the subject in length and breadth. Various aspects of these topics were covered. Ranging from climate resilient crops to eco-friendly irrigation. Pragmatic and innovative suggestions came up on promoting youth in farming. Special focus was decided to showcase young entrepreneurs and their success stories in agriculture sector.