"ASPEE" & the "Farmer" have
always been an inextricable part of each other. ASPEE
owed much to the farming community who helped catapult
it to its present position. Hence, ASPEE felt it a
boundant duty to repay this debt to the farmers, to give
back something in return for what ASPEE earned through
them.
This saw the birth of "ASPEE Agril. Research &
Development Foundation". It aimed a conducting
scientific research for the extension of knowledge in
the field of Plant Protection. To encourage excellence
in Plant Protection prizes & awards were given to
Agriculture Graduates and Progressive Farmers.
With a sponsorship of Rupees One Crore contributed by
ASPEE, its employees, their distributors and associates,
the foundation was set up with the basic intent of
encouraging many of the budding Agriculturists of the
country to better the standard of Agriculture.
In the quest of Mr. L.M. Patel's vision of motivating
youth to go back to farming, he instituted scholarships
for studies leading to M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees. From the
inspection of the Foundation, Junior Fellowships have
been awarded for studies leading to M.Sc. and Senior
Fellowships for studies leading to Ph.D. have been
awarded with Gold Medals to boost sprits of youth.
Some of the Research projects undertaken were,
- Tur Improvement · Swarming Catepillars and False
Smut on Rice
- Influence on the Spraying System of efficiency of
Insecticides against Bollworm of Cotton
- Testing of Air Carrier Spraying System against
Hoppers infesting Mangoes in Konkan region
- Crop loss estimation due to spidermite on cotton
- Effect of Organic Manure and Green Manure on the
performance of Rabi-hot weather Groundnut
- Biological control of Rhizocionia rot in cotton by
Fluorescent Pseudo Moneds
Crop competitions were sponsored for various crops on
an All-India basis. Rice, Jowar, Ground-nut and Onion
growing competitions were held to encourage farmers to
use improved methods of agriculture and produce higher
yields and better quality crops. The winners were
awarded and were given publicity by publishing their
efforts in the form of interesting literature. All this
for one basic intent - to promote a Greener,
Self-sufficient India.
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