Kolkata: Award-winning agriculturalists like Padma Shri Sabarmatee and Padma Shri Subhash Sharma, and environmentalist Sunita Narain, director-general of Centre for Science & Environment, New Delhi, are set to address the 6th Kisan Swaraj Sammelan, which will be hosted by the city for the first time from Oct 29-31.The three-day conference, organised by Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA), a network of 400 organisations, farmer groups and experts as part of Agro-Diversity Heritage Festival, will bring together about 600 researchers, farmers and agriculture experts from 23 states at Science City. They will speak on organic and natural farming with a focus on seed sovereignty, crop and weed management, agriculture labour and human-animal conflicts in fields.Hundreds of varieties of traditional crop seeds will be put on display at the conference. Students and professors from different colleges and universities will also be part of the event. State agriculture minister Dudh Kumar Mondal is likely to be present at the inaugural ceremony.Angshuman Das, a member of ASHA, said: “The conference aims to deepen collaboration with diverse stakeholders and share a vision for a farmer-centred agricultural future. The latest developments that will be elaborated at the event include free trade agreements, the threat of gene-editing in food systems and solutions for increasing conflict between humans and wildlife, among others.”
