World Rural Women's Day was celebrated by the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) of the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) in Munak village, near here, with a call to women to play an active role in solving the problems related to climate change.

The theme of this year's event was" climate change--- rural women are part of the solution".The importance of the role of women in keeping the environment clean and pollution free was stressed at the gathering of 300 rural women.

Head of the krishi kendra Dalip K. Gosain emphasised that the use of indigenous and sustainable agricultural practices could adequately address the problems pertaining to climate change.

Citing various examples of soil degradation, effects of the intensive use of chemical fertilisers and the lowering of the water table that had led to environmental changes, he said that farm families should adopt the newer farming system(s) which were eco-friendly.

Urging rural women to take a lead in educating farmers not to burn paddy in the fields as it adversely affected both the soil and air and caused pollution, he asked the women to become a part of the decision-making process in selecting different crop combinations, based on conservation agriculture and sustainability issues.

Saroj Mehta, senior technical officer of the KVK, said they had been concentrating on organising programmes pertaining to safe food production and the use of vermi-compost since 2003.Rural women attending the training programmes had shown keen interest and adopted the latest farm practices.

The KVK organised training on different aspects of agriculture, dairying, bee-keeping, fisheries, home science and vermi-compost making and rural women should attend these programmes, she added.

Rajinder Singh of the Uthan Saksharta Samiti called upon women to actively participate in various rural development programmes to make the rural economy sustainable.