Tripura Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha on Friday, 26 June 2026, attended the inaugural session of a one-day workshop on sustainable agriculture at Bamutia Berimura School in Tripura, encouraging participating farmers to embrace organic and bio-energy-based farming practices. The event was organised as part of the 'Khet Bachao Abhiyan' (Save the Field Campaign), an initiative of the Government of India aimed at promoting sustainable, chemical-free cultivation.

Context

Posting in Bengali on X, Dr. Saha described the campaign as rooted in a sense of responsibility toward the future — not merely economic gain. He wrote: 'শুধুমাত্র অর্থনৈতিক লাভালাভের জন্য রাসায়নিক নির্ভর নয় আজকের কৃষি' ('Today's agriculture is not about chemical dependence for economic profit alone') — framing the shift toward organic methods as an act of accountability to future generations. He credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visionary leadership for driving this transformation in India's agrarian economy.

The workshop at Bamutia Berimura School brought together local farmers for a focused, single-day training session on bio-energy-based and sustainable agricultural techniques. Dr. Saha personally participated in the inauguration, signalling the state government's active role in implementing centrally driven agricultural reforms at the grassroots level.

Policy Backdrop

The Khet Bachao Abhiyan fits within a broader national policy direction that has, over the past decade, steadily moved away from chemical-intensive farming. The Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY), launched in 2015, laid the groundwork by promoting cluster-based organic farming and reducing chemical input dependency across Indian states.

Separately, the Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region, also initiated in 2015, provided dedicated support to Tripura and neighbouring northeastern states, recognising their agro-climatic suitability for organic crops. Tripura, where agriculture remains a primary livelihood for a large share of the population, has been a consistent beneficiary of these targeted central programmes.

Indian agricultural policy has increasingly linked farmer income, soil health, and environmental sustainability as interconnected national objectives — a framework that campaigns such as Khet Bachao Abhiyan seek to operationalise at the district and village level.

Stakeholders and Impact

The immediate beneficiaries are Tripura's farming communities, particularly smallholders who depend on affordable, sustainable inputs and whose soil health is directly threatened by prolonged chemical fertiliser and pesticide use. One-day workshops of this kind serve as entry points, equipping farmers with knowledge about bio-energy inputs and organic certification pathways.

Organic agriculture practitioners and state agricultural extension officers are also key stakeholders, as the success of cluster-based organic transitions depends heavily on consistent technical support and market linkages. The northeastern region's organic produce has growing export and domestic market potential, making farmer skilling a strategic economic priority as well as an environmental one.

What's Next

The Bamutia Berimura workshop is expected to be one of several such sessions rolled out across Tripura's districts under the Khet Bachao Abhiyan framework. Expansion of similar cluster-formation activities to other northeastern states could follow, given the region's shared agro-climatic profile and existing central scheme infrastructure. The broader test will be whether these awareness-level interventions translate into measurable reductions in chemical input use and verifiable growth in certified organic acreage across the state.