This ex-serviceman motivates farmers to adopt DSR technique

Charanjit Singh Teja

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, August 21

Gurbinder Singh Bajwa of Sarchur village near Fatehgarh Churian has written a success story by motivating thousands of farmers in the state to adopt directed seeded rice (DSR) during the past few years.

Bajwa was one of those farmers, who had associated with the Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, and initiated direct sowing of paddy in 2009. In 2011, Gurbinder had met with an accident and got spinal injury. However, when he resumed farming after some years, he resorted to direct seeding of rice.

“In March 2020, when migrant labourers started returning to their homes after Covid outbreak, farmers got worried about sowing activities. I then wrote a blog on Facebook that paddy can be sown without labourers too. I shared DSR techniques there, of which someone prepared a pdf file and circulated on WhatsApp. It got viral and hundreds of farmers used to call me daily for advice. A significant rise in the area under direct seeded rice was also witnessed. The technique also helps in saving water,” said Bajwa.

“This year, I have prepared another document to address the challenges of DSR techniques. I have elaborated on the preparation of fields, seeding techniques and weed management. Thousands of farmers have used the technique. I have shared some video messages and farmers from Pakistan and Nepal also connected to get details of the technique. I get so many phone calls every day and am not able to attend them all. Now, I have created a YouTube channel and Facebook page to assist farmers in chemical-free farming and marketing of various crops,” added Bajwa.

An ex-Army man, Gurbinder Singh Bajwa, left his job in 1997 to pursue his dream to be an agriculturist. In the following two decades, he set himself as a successful farmer and established a cooperative group of farmers too. The group got registered under the name of Young Progressive Farmers’ Producers Organisation in 2015. Not only this, he also established an Implement Bank, with other farmers, which lends farm tools to others.