Quarterly Report (January – March 2026)

New project implementation program

A project on fruit tree plantation was implemented at RRS (CSZ), BCKV, Kakdwip in January 2026 with the financial assistance from West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB), Kolkata. Under this project, total 1000 nos. of climate-resilient fruit tree species namely sapota, jackfruit, mango, guava, custard apple, coconut, arecanut and jamun have been planted. The aim is to educate farmers about fruit cultivation following organic protocol under changed climate.

Demonstration programme organized on ‘Drone Technology’ for RAWE Students

To pertain the knowledge on advanced agro-techniques to RAWE students, a two-hours long demonstration programme on “Use of Drone in coastal agricultural field” was organized at RRS (CSZ), BCKV, Kakdwip on 5th February 2026 in collaboration with a drone manufacturing company Eldyne group, Kolkata. Total 52 students (30 boys & 22 girls) of B.Sc (Hons.) Ag., 7th semester under RAWE programme (2025-26) attended the programme to learn about drone technology.

Training programme organized

A farmers’ training programme on “Improved package of practices of betelvine cultivation” was organized at RRS, BCKV, Kakddwip on 23rd March, 2026 in collaboration with AICRP on MAP and Betelvine, Directorate of Research, BCKV under SCSP programme. Total 62 farmers from Kakdwip, Namkhana, Sagar and Patharpratima blocks of South 24 Parganas district actively participated in the training programme.

Acted as a resource person

• Prof. Hirak Banerjee, In-Charge, RRS (CSZ), BCKV, Kakdwip delivered a talk in the ICAR sponsored Short Course on “Smart Agriculture and Way Forward: New Age Technologies in Agriculture” at FACC, Kalyani, West Bengal on 1st March 2026. His topic was “Resource conserving agriculture for coastal ecosystem: smart, precise and productive.

• Prof. Hirak Banerjee, In-Charge, RRS (CSZ), BCKV, Kakdwip acted as resource person for farmers’ training programme on “Arsenic contamination and its management” on 22nd January 2026 at Gontra SKUS, Gontra, Nadia. It was organized and funded by University of Salford, United Kingdom.

• Dr. Ashis Roy Barman, Assistant Professor in Plant Pathology, RRS, BCKV, Kakdwip acted as Rapporteur of the technical sessions “Public-Private Partnerships and Innovations in Plant Protection – Panel Discussion” and “Industry & Academicia Interface” in the IPS National Conference on “Current Perspectives on Crop Health and Sustainable Plant Disease Management” organized by Indian Phytopathological Society, New Delhi and BCKV, Mohanpur held on 18th – 20th February 2026 at BCKV, Kalyani, Nadia, West Bengal.

Seminar/Symposium attended

• Dr. Ashis Roy Barman, Assistant Professor in Plant Pathology, RRS, BCKV, Kakdwip participated and presented a paper entitled “Media optimization and effective delivery system of efficient native plant growth promoting rhizobacteria for managing soil borne diseases of tomato and brinjal” in the IPS National Conference on “Current Perspectives on Crop Health and Sustainable Plant Disease Management” organized by Indian Phytopathological Society, New Delhi and BCKV, Mohanpur held on 18th – 20th February 2026 at BCKV, Kalyani, Nadia, West Bengal.

Awards received

• Dr. Ashis Roy Barman, Assistant Professor in Plant Pathology, RRS, BCKV, Kakdwip has been awarded Best Oral Presentation Award for the paper entitled “Media optimization and effective delivery system of efficient native plant growth promoting rhizobacteria for managing soil borne diseases of tomato and brinjal” in the IPS National Conference on “Current Perspectives on Crop Health and Sustainable Plant Disease Management” organized by Indian Phytopathological Society, New Delhi and BCKV, Mohanpur held on 18th – 20th February 2026 at BCKV, Kalyani, Nadia, West Bengal.

Book published

1. Kundu, D. 2025. Organic Agriculture: Environmental issues, Certification and Market Dynamics. AG Publishing House, Bhopal [ISBN no: 978-93-89319-82-8].

2. Banerjee, H. 2026. Agronomy Coach. New Delhi Publishers, New Delhi, India [ISBN no: 978-93-92597-69-5].

Quarterly Report (Oct. – Dec. 2025)

News 1

Celebration of “World Soil Day” on 5th December, 2025 at RRS (CSZ), BCKV, Akshaynagar, South 24 Parganas

We celebrated “World Soil Day” on 5th Dec. 2025 at Regional Research Station, BCKV, Kakdwip. On that day, a Farmers’ Training Program was organized by In-Charge, RRS, Kakdwip to teach and aware farmers of this region about soil health improvement. Total 37 nos. of farmers from Kakdwip, Namkhana, Sagar and Patharpratima blocks of South 24 Parganas districts were attended the training and awareness program. The chief guest of the training program was Mr. Amit Sankar Mandal, Head Master, Akshaynagar Kumarnarayan Madhyamik Sikshayatan (H.S.), Akshaynagar, Kakdwip. In this programme, Mr. Sudhangsu Dey, Progressive Farmer and Secretary, Sundarban Organic Agro Producer Company Ltd. and Society for Durbachati Social Action and Transformation, Durbachati, Patharpratima was invited as Special Guest.

During this programme, series of lectures regarding soil health improvement and other relevant topics were delivered by teachers of RRS, Kakdwip namely, Dr. Debjani Kundu, Dr. Ashis Roy Barman, Dr. Shibani Chowdhury, Dr. Asim Mandal, Prof. Arun Kumar Senapati and Prof. Hirak Banerjee. On this occasion, 74 nos. of grafted planting materials of fruit tree (sapota) were distributed among farmer participants. March-Past involving all teachers, non-teaching staff, contractual staff of RRS, BCKV, Kakdwip along with farmer participants was conducted within the campus. All the staffs of RRS, BCKV, Kakdwip whole-heartedly participated and made this program a grand success.

Seminar/Symposium attended

• Dr. Ashis Roy Barman, Assistant Professor in Plant Pathology, RRS, BCKV, Kakdwip participated and presented a paper entitled “Utilization of native Trichoderma spp. from coastal regions of West Bengal against soil borne disease of French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris)” in National Conference on “Harnessing Microbes for Sustainable Farming System in the Era of Climate and Pathogen Population Change” organized by Regional Research Station (Hill Zone), UBKV, Kalimpong and Indian Mycological Society (IMS), Kolkata held on 15th – 16th November 2025 at Kalimpong Science Centre.

Awards received

• Dr. Ashis Roy Barman, Assistant Professor in Plant Pathology, RRS, BCKV, Kakdwip has been awarded Best Oral Presentation Award for the paper entitled “Utilization of native Trichoderma spp. from coastal region of West Bengal against soil borne disease of French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris)” of the Technical Session V in National Conference on “Harnessing Microbes for Sustainable Farming System in the Era of Climate and Pathogen Population Change” organized by Regional Research Station (Hill Zone), UBKV, Kalimpong and Indian Mycological Society (IMS), Kolkata held on 15th – 16th November 2025 at Kalimpong Science Centre.

Publications in Journal (NAAS rating > 10)

1. Barman, M., Pramanik, K., Chanda, R., Dash, S.S., Kundu, R., Roy, S., Pati, S., Pati, B., Banerjee, H., Das, A., Datta, J. and Mukherjee, S. (2025). Unravelling salt tolerance in rice through multiphase evaluation integrating morpho-physiological, biochemical and molecular insights. Plant Stress, 101086. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stress.2025.101086 (Elsevier) Impact Factor 6.9 (Web of Science)

2. Goswami, R., Dutta, S., Banerjee, H., Chakraborty, S., Ray, K., Majumdar, K. and Timsina, J. 2025. Typology-based evaluation of nutrient expert® for sustainable maize intensification in smallholder farms of eastern India. Farming System, 100193. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.farsys.2025.100193 (Elsevier) Impact Factor 8.4 (Web of Science)

Quarterly Report (July – Sept. 2025)

News 1

Prof. Hirak Banerjee working under the Directorate of Research, BCKV has been assigned as the In-Charge, Regional Research Station, BCKV, Kakdwip w.e.f. 01.07.2025 by the order of Registrar (Ref No. Admn/BCKV/SP-57/Pt-II/L-917/15) dated 24.06.2025.  

Awards in Seminar

1. National Seminar at The Neotia University (TNU), Sarisha, West Bengal:

Sudipta Sarker, Ph.D scholar, Department of Agronomy, secured 1st position in poster presentation in National Seminar on “Climate Smart Agriculture: A Sustainable Approach for Resilient Production System and Livelihood Security (NSCSA-2025)” during 25-26 April, 2025.

News 2

Brothers and sisters of Pajapati Brahma Kumaris Ishwariya Viswavidyalaya, Kakdwip Branch visited the campus of RRS, BCKV, Kakdwip on 25th August 2025 on the eve of ‘Kalp Taruh’ utsav having the theme of “1 Person – 1 Plant – 1 Planet”. On this holy occasion, scientists of RRS, BCKV, Kakdwip joined hands with them to plant samplings of 30 fruit trees within the RRS, Kakdwip Farm.

News 3

Under the exposure visit programme, 80 students of 12th & 13th batches of DAESI courses of NTI, Sasya Shyamala KVK, RKMVERI, Arapanch, Sonarpur visited RRS, Kakdwip Farm on 10th Sept. 2025. In-Charge of the station Prof. Hirak Banerjee and other scientists namely Dr. Ashis Roy Barman, Dr. Debjani Kundu and Dr. Shibani Chowdhury guided them to acquire knowledge on environment-friendly crop production system suitable for coastal saline zone of West Bengal.

News 4

Dr. Debjani Kundu, Assistant Professor in Agronomy and Dr. Ashis Roy Barman, Assistant Professor in Plant Pathology of RRS, BCKV, Kakdwip attended AAAS National Conference on “Transformative Approaches and Smart Technology in Plant & Animal Health for Sustainable & Climate-Ready Agriculture” organised by Department of Plant Pathology, Palli Siksha Bhavana, Viswa-Bharati & AAAS on September 18-19, 2025, at Palli Siksha Bhavana, Viswa-Bharati.

Quarterly Report (April – June 2025)

Farmers’ Training Programme at RRS (CSZ), BCKV, Kakdwip

1. A training programme on “Popularizing cultivation of cotton in coastal saline zone of West Bengal and use of gibberellic acid for improvement of cotton growth and yield” was organized by Dr. Debjani Kundu, Assistant Professor (Agronomy) at Regional Research Station (CSZ), BCKV, Kakdwip on 22nd May, 2025. This training programme was funded by Penshibao Wang, Bangalore, India and organized in collaboration with RAKVK, Nimpith, South 24 Parganas. Total 40 farmers of Kakdwip block attended this training programme. Dr. Debjani Kundu, Prof. A.K. Senapati, Prof. Hirak Banerjee and Dr. Ashis Roy Barman of RRS (CSZ), BCKV, Kakdwip and Somnath Sardar, SMS (Agronomy) of RAKVK, Nimpith participated actively in classroom as well as field-based interactions with the participating farmers.

2. A training programme on “Consumption of Resilient Orphan Crops and Products for Healthier Diets” was jointly organized by RKMVERI, Narendrapur, Kolkata and Regional Research Station (CSZ), BCKV, Kakdwip on 8th May, 2025. In this SWISSAID-funded training programme, Prof. Hirak Banerjee of RRS (CSZ), BCKV, Kakdwip and Dr. Monidipta Saha, Programme Assistant (Lab-Tech.), SSKVK, Sonarpur, Kolkata acted as resource person. Total 45 farmers of Kakdwip block attended this training programme. Sarmistha Adak of RKMVERI, Narendrapur, Kolkata and Subhadip Karmakar of WASSAN, Hyderabad conducted the field visit programme efficiently.