Protecting and restoring environment is shared responsibility of all of us, Dr GS Buttar, Director of Extension Education, and the Chief guest told farmers at ‘Kisan Mela’ organized at KVK Ferozepur under the umbrella of Punjab Agricultural University and ICAR ATARI Zone 1, Ludhiana on October 12, 2023.
Speaking on the issue, Dr Buttar said that few farmers still perceive crop residue burning as the quickest and cost-effective way to prepare fields for the wheat crop, while some others tend to make wrong choice of CRB by seeing their group doing the same, may be under some social influence, as it reduces the risk of social disapproval of an individual farmer’s behaviour. “So, we must learn from our past experiences, understand the role of social influence, and reset our focus on community centric approach for successful implementation of CRM programme” Dr Buttar added. Tell each and every farmer that crop residue is a goldmine of nutrients like N,P,K, and home to numerous beneficial organisms, he appealed to extension experts.
Gracing the event as the special Guest of Honour, Sh. Amanpreet Singh Brar, Member, PAU Board of Management said “PAU is enabling farmers with the green and cost-effective technologies like surface seeding to improve their quality of life”. He emphasized farmers to make productive use of crop residue by in-situ incorporation and as cattle feed, compost manure, mushroom cultivation, packing materials or industrial production, etc. “The only way forward from here is to deliver practical solutions to farmers after drilling down on the root causes of constraints in technology adoption”, he emphasized.
Sh. Ranbir Singh Bhullar, Hon’ble MLA, Ferozepur city and the Guest of honour said ‘the earth is what we all have in common and sustainable development goals are possible only through collective effort of all. He lauded the role of KVK Ferozepur for reaching masses with an array of easy and economical solutions for crop residue management. He also expressed his pleasure on success of KVK trained entrepreneurs who showcased their work through large number of exhibition stalls.
Sh. Fauja Singh Sirari, Hon’ble MLA, Guru Har Sahai and the Guest of honour praised the efforts of KVK for successfully running the crop residue management campaign through strong collaborations with all allied departments. He appealed the farmers to follow PAU guidelines and their scientifically designed range of solutions for crop residue management.
Dr GS Makkar, Deputy Director, KVK Ferozepur while expressing his delight on huge participation of farmers and allied departments said, “the wilful participation of stakeholder promotes workable decisions, and this Kisan Mela at KVK is providing that platform to the farmers”. He informed that more than 1000 farmers, dignitaries, students & experts from PAU; Associate Directors from KVK Moga & Fazilka; AGM, NABARD; Lead Bank Manager, Ferozepur; PD ATMA; Officers from the State Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare; Department of Animal Husbandry; Department of Soil & Water Conservations; Department of Fisheries; Department of Horticulture; Principal, SBS College, Ferozepur; Principal, PU Constituent College, Ferozepur; Principal of Govt Senior Secondary Schools, Shande-Hasam, and SSM Public School, Kasoana; 18 self-help groups; 7 Panchayats including Sarpanches of seven villages adopted under CRM; media personnel participated in this event.
Dr Makkar specially thanked Dr Amandeep S. Brar, Assoc. Director, KVK Moga; team KVK Ferozepur, Faridkot & Fazilka for their support in organizing this grand event along with experts from PAU, Dr KS Suri, Principal Entomologist; Dr Amarjit Singh, Principal Extension Specialist (Pl. Pathology) and Dr Salesh Jindal, Principal Veg. Breeder for sharing their expertise with farmers.
Around 70 Farmers practicing residue management, diversified agriculture or adopting subsidiary occupations for the last several years were also felicitated during the Mela.
38 exhibitions by KVK, allied departments, self-help groups, progressive farmer/ farm-woman entrepreneurs; sale of PAU literature; exhibition of latest CRM machinery including surface seeder; and farmer-scientists interaction were the few other attractions at the Mela.
Read more: https://www.pau.edu/index.php?_act=manageEvent&DO=viewEventDetail&dataE=datae&intID=8189
