Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Bathinda under the aegis of Director of Extension Education and ICAR ATARI Zone-1, organized Kisan Mela on crop residue management under the ongoing “Prali Parbandhan Chetna Yatra” campaign. In this Kisan Mela held on 16 October 2023, more than 1000 farmers/ farm-women from districts Bathinda, Mansa, Barnala and Sri Muktsar Sahib participated.
Dr. Gurmeet Singh Buttar, Director of Extension Education, PAU, Ludhiana graced the event as the chief guest. He said that PAU is enabling farmers with the clean and green technologies to manage the crop residue in field to curb the problem of environmental pollution caused by burning of paddy stubbles. He further added that retention or incorporation of crop residue in soil helps to enrich it with micro and macro nutrients, thus improves the soil health and crop production. He also emphasized on empowering the women by encouraging them to adopt subsidiary occupations to enhance income. He informed that custom hiring centers on paddy residue machinery have been formed in the block and laid stress on need of custom hiring and cooperative basis for proper utilization of paddy residue machineries.
Dr Gurdeep Singh, Deputy Director (Training), KVK Bathinda, while welcoming the farmers, urged them to shun residue burning for safeguarding the environment. He informed that as in previous years, this year also, KVK Bathinda is organizing a campaign for managing paddy residue through adoption of villages and activities like awareness camps, trainings, demonstrations, hoardings, wall paintings and literature distribution. Dr Gurdeep further highlighted harmful effects of burning of crop residue burning and exhorted the farmers to successfully pursue the noble cause of non-burning of paddy residue in campaign mode.
Dr. GS Dhillon, Professor (Ext. Edu.), KVK Bathinda motivated the farmers/farm women to uplift their socio-economic status by getting trained by KVK for various subsidiary occupations. He advocated the use of paddy straw in mushroom cultivation, paddy straw based biogas plant, for biochar, as mulch and as fodder and shared important tips for seasonal management of dairy animals.
Dr. JK Brar, Associate Professor (Home Sci.), KVK Bathinda spoke on role of farm women in agriculture. She gave informative lecture on women and adolescent girls. Further, she motivated the crowd to go for process and add value to their produce.
Dr. Vinay Singh, Assistant Professor (Plant Prot.) KVK Bathinda spoke on scientific methods of insect and rodent-pest management in wheat sown under paddy residue managed fields. He sensitized the farmers regarding different nutrients available in paddy residue and need for their preservation. He explained various in-situ residue management technologies and ex-situ methods for the effective management of paddy residue.
Dr. SP Singh, Assistant Professor (Horti.), KVK Bathinda discussed about the various techniques and methodologies recommended by PAU to grow healthy vegetables, mushrooms and fruits.
Dr. APS Dhaliwal, Professor (Animal Science) handled the stage during this event. During the event, experts from different departments also delivered lectures on latest technologies and various schemes for the welfare of farming community. Exhibitions by participatory KVKs, Government allied departments, self-help groups, progressive farmers/farm women entrepreneurs were also arranged on this occasion.
Progressive farmers practicing residue management for the last several years were also felicitated during the Kisan Mela. Seeds of Rabi crops, wheat bio-fertilizer, mineral mixture, uromin licks and technical literature were made available for the benefit of the farmers. In the end, Dr. Gurdeep Singh proposed a formal vote of thanks and urged the participants to check the practice of crop residue burning.
Dr. Karamjit Singh, Associate Director (Trg.), KVK Shri Mustsar Sahib, Dr KS Sekhon, Director, RRS Bathinda and Dr. AS Sandhu, Distt. Extension Scientist (SM), FASC, Bathinda and officials from allied departments also participated along with their teams.
Read more: https://www.pau.edu/index.php?_act=manageEvent&DO=viewEventDetail&dataE=datae&intID=8200
