The Aspee Agricultural Research and Development Foundation (Aspee Foundation) has been presenting Aspee L.M. Patel Award to outstanding Indian farmers in different fields of Horticulture, Rainfed Farming and Woman Farmer Categories since last 22 years.
Late Shri L.M. Patel is the Founder, Mentor and Inspirator of American Spring & Pressing Works Pvt. Ltd which is the oldest and the largest organization of our country engaged in manufacture of Plant Protection Appliances. He died on 12-03-1996 at a ripe age of 90. He established the Aspee Agricultural Research and Development Foundation in 1973 by donating a piece of his own land admeasuring 17 hectares for promoting Agricultural Education, Research and Extension activities related to transmission of modern agricultural technologies to farmers particularly in the vicinity of the Tansa Farm about 70 kms from Mumbai.
After his death the Aspee Group of Companies thought of commemorating his life and deeds by felicitating outstanding Indian Farmers with Aspee L.M.Patel Awards across the country. Each year three such awards are given away in a meticulously organized function.
The identification of top ranking farmers is done very critically involving a long drawn procedure over a period of one year. Outstanding agricultural scientists are involved in scrutinizing and short listing the farmers. The final selection is done by the Governing Council of the Aspee Foundation under the chairmanship of Padma Vibhushan Prof. M.S.Swaminathan, India’s internationally acknowledged agricultural scientist.
The Award for the year 2017 was given on Friday the 22nd March 2019 at Aspee Auditorium, Malad, Mumbai in the categories of Horticulture (Small Tea Growers) and Kitchen Gardening For Women Farmers. The names of the awardees are given below:
1. Horticulture Category (Small Tea Growers) – The Award was jointly shared by Shri. Bhabendra Mohan Borgohain from Dist. Dibrugarh and Shri. Rajesh Kumar Dutta from Dist. Sivsagar both from State of Assam.
2. Woman Farming Category – Kitchen Gardening – It was jointly shared by Dr. Myhtri Shankar from Bangalore, Karnataka and Smt. Madhuri Mahadev Bhoir from Dist. Thane, Maharashtra.
All of the above four farmers was honoured with a cash prize of Rs.50,000/- , a citation and a trophy.
Shri Suresh Srinivasan, the Enthusiasm Specialist and An Ardent Inspirational and Motivational Speaker was the Chief Guest of the Function, while Dr. A.R.Pathak, Vice Chancellor, Junagadh Agricultural University was the Guest of Honour.
The Anthem of the ASPEE is quite powerful and gives the sense of pride and vision to do for the society. Shri Sharad Patel, Mg. Director, Aspee Group of Companies delivered a welcome address followed by an audio visual presentation of Aspee Foundation activities.
The Chief Guest Shri Suresh made the function extremely lively by his presentation related to the philosophy as to how one should live as stress-free life. He cited day to day life experiences in his characteristic style of narration using mild humor. The audience responded to the presentation with a loud bust of laughter throughout the discourse. The presentation also made the audience introvert and thoughtful for leading a happy life with meager resources and means. The discourse on the occasion would be described as an ideal interactive interaction between audience and Speaker.
Eminent citizens of Mumbai, progressive farmers, Aspee distributors and dealers from various parts of the country and the past L.M.Patel awardees graced the occasion. The function ended with a Vote of Thanks from Shri. Jatin S. Patel.
Krishi Jagran team is proud to inform its viewers and readers that it had covered the whole award function. The team interacted with many companies as well as awardees and did a live coverage on the Krishi Jagran Facebook Page.
