The ICAR-IISWC, Dehradun organized Parthenium Awareness Week from August 16 to 22, 2024 under the Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP) of the institute. Under this week long programme, Parthenium awareness day was celebrated on August 16, 2024 in Pata Village of Kalsi block, Dehradun, engaging a total of 60 participants including men, women and school going children. These villages are situated at an altitude of 1600 meter from above mean sea level. In this programme, various activities were performed and demonstrated to the participants, such as identification of Parthenium plants, safety measures for eradication of parthenium plants, such as masks, hand gloves, sanitizer, etc., biological control measures, such as the identification of the Mexican beetle (Zygogramma bicolorata), preparation of Parthenium compost etc.
The event was started with the briefing by the programme coordinator, Dr Abimanyu Jhajhria, Scientist, Senior Scale (Agricultural Economics) on the importance of organizing Parthenium awareness programme. In the continuation, Dr Raman Jeet Singh, Senior Scientist (Agronomy), spoke about how the parthenium weed is impacting our cropland, humans, animals, and overall the ecosystem. He briefed upon effective physical, biological, and chemical management strategies for parthenium weed. He also explained how parthenium causes numerous diseases in humans and animals, as well as what steps should be taken to avoid these issues. He also talked about how Parthenium weed biomass before flowering can be used to make nutrient-rich compost. He also discussed the necessity of identifying natural competitors/enemies of parthenium weed in order to manage the weed ecologically. He also aware the attendees with his nice words regarding how parthenium can be safely used for many purposes, particularly in the soil and water conservation research. He enlightened the participants on how Parthenium weed can be used as green manure, live mulch, compost in organic and natural farming. The participants especially children also shared their thoughts and questions with the experts.
Villagers Sh. Bhagat Singh, Rajender Singh, Jawahar Singh, Jasveer Singh etc. informed to scientists that this weed came to their village through sand brought from plain areas for the construction purpose. Dr. Abimanyu Jhajhria, proposed a vote of gratitude to the all participants at the end of the discussion. After that, with all the safety precautions, all participants physically eradicated the Parthenium plants growing in the vicinity of the village. In this occasion, root-slips of hybrid Napier was also distributed to farmers for soil and water conservation purposes. The whole programme was organized under the active guidance of Dr. M. Muruganandam, TSP Coordinator (HQ), Dr. A.K. Singh, TSP and SCSP Coordinator of the institute, and Dr. M. Madhu, Director of the institute.
