ADOPT SUBSIDIARY OCCUPATIONS FOR ADDITIONAL INCOME: EXPERT

LUDHIANA

Swarms of farmers thronged the two-day Golden Jubilee Kisan Mela, which concluded at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) today. The mela was a big success and saw enthusiastic participation of the farmers from across Punjab and adjoining states.

In his address, the chief guest, Dr R.K. Gupta, Director, Central Institute of Post-Harvest Engineering and Technology (CIPHET), urged the farmers to adopt subsidiary occupations along with farming for economic sustainability. He also advised them to move towards profit by focusing on marketing of the produce. He highly appreciated the new crop varieties developed by PAU as well as the theme of the mela.

In his presidential address, Dr Baldev Singh Dhillon, Vice-Chancellor, PAU, called upon the farmers to lay thrust on profit by maintaining farm records, use fertilizers on soil test basis, spray as per need and use farm inputs judiciously. The University has been instrumental in establishing 292 agro-processing centres in Punjab, he disclosed, while suggesting the farmers to adopt processing for additional income. He also invited the farmers to the upcoming Food Industry and Craft Mela, slated for October 12 at PAU. Expressing concern over paddy straw burning, Dr Dhillon said eight agencies were working to check stubble burning, resulting in pollution and health hazards. He appealed to the farmers to see demonstrations showing different methods to manage straw. Dr Dhillon further said the University has been ranked numero uno by Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding, and CII for best state agricultural varsity, maximum landmark varieties and publications, respectively.

Dr Navtej Singh Bains, Director of Research, while presenting research highlights, shared new recommendations. He said the newly developed wheat varieties Unnat PBW 550 and Unnat PBW 343 have been revived with biotechnological approaches. The wheat variety PBW 1 Zn has higher zinc content and is a first biofortified variety, he added. Dr Bains also highlighted newly developed paddy straw management machinery and various production-protection technologies.

Earlier, in his welcome remarks, Dr Ashok Kumar, Director of Extension Education, said the massive participation of farmers speaks of success of the mela. He urged the farmers to discuss their farm issues with the experts and seek technical guidance for the same.

Mr H.S. Bajwa, Member, Board of Management, PAU, and a progressive farmer from Haryana, shared his experience of being a successful mushroom grower as well as supplier. He lauded rice breeders of PAU for developing PR 126 variety which has shown outstanding results in fields. He honoured PAU VC; Dr G.S. Mangat, Senior Rice Breeder and his team on the occasion.
At the mela, an online Punjabi newspaper “Kheti Sandesh” was also released.