Indian Textiles Ministry opens agro-textile centre in Gujarat

The centre is designed to educate and empower farmers, showcasing live demonstrations of agro-textile products, their applications, and offering practical training modules aimed at integrating these innovations into everyday farming practices.

The Ministry of Textiles, in partnership with the Synthetic & Art Silk Mills’ Research Association (SASMIRA), inaugurated a climate-smart agro-textile demonstration centre in Navsari, Gujarat, in the presence of CR Patil, the Minister of Jal Shakti, Government of India.

This demonstration centre marks a significant advancement in promoting agro-textiles as transformative solutions for India’s agricultural sector. The centre is designed to educate and empower farmers, showcasing live demonstrations of agro-textile products, their applications, and offering practical training modules aimed at integrating these innovations into everyday farming practices.

Covering an area of 15,000 square metres, the centre will be managed by SASMIRA for the next three years, spanning across eight crop cycles. The facility will include live demonstrations of agro-textile technologies such as shade nets (including par-perfect, photo-selective, and vertical farming applications), medicinal nurseries, vermicomposting under shade nets, ground covers (natural and HDPE), pond liners, and crop covers, as reported by the ministry in a press release.

This initiative is in line with the ministry’s vision of promoting technical textiles under the National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM) and driving India’s agriculture sector towards sustainable and innovative solutions. The demonstration centre is also equipped with IoT-based monitoring systems to track real-time conditions, crop yield, and growth performance. Furthermore, the centre will host approved seminars at regular intervals to educate farmers and stakeholders.