PAU kisan mela sees high footfall

Tribune News Service

Nawanshahr, September 6

A large number of farmers attended a kisan mela organised at Punjab Agricultural University’s Regional Research Station Ballowal Saunkhari on Tuesday.

Farmers from Ballowal Saunkhari and neighboring areas thronged the one-day kisan mela based on the theme “Kisani, jawani ate pani bachaiye, aao rangla Punjab banaiye.” Farmers interacted with experts, sought solutions to their farm queries, saw live demonstrations, purchased quality seeds, planting material and PAU farm publications at the fair.

On the occasion, stalls were put up by different departments of PAU to provide a platform to visiting farmers to interact with scientists and to know about newly-released crop varieties and latest technologies, discuss their farm issues and seek solutions for the same. Agricultural scientists informed the farmers about new varieties of wheat and suggested them to buy fruit/vegetable seeds.

Punjab Legislative Assembly Deputy Speaker Jai Krishan Singh Rauri was the chief guest. He stated that the scientific and technological advancements of PAU had largely contributed to the agricultural development of the Kandi region. He urged the farmers to maintain the soil quality of the region for better agricultural practices. He emphasised that small and marginal farmers of the region may opt for food processing, value addition and self-marketing of farm produce to improve their livelihood.

PAU Vice-Chancellor Dr Satbir Singh Gosal inaugurated the mela and called upon the visiting farmers to opt for hybrid seed production, use inputs as per need, go for soil testing, adopt subsidiary occupations, focus on co-operative marketing and mechanisation and make use of expertise of PAU scientists. He urged the farmers to attend kisan melas which were ‘Gyan ate vigyan de mele’ as they disseminate information about the latest agricultural technologies and recent advances in farm practices. He endorsed the concept of organic farming and highlighted the significance of social media platforms for connecting with university experts which played a vital role especially during Covid period.

PAU Director of Research Dr Ajmer Singh Dhatt said: “The university is conducting research on a large number of crops and has developed a significant number of crop varieties/hybrids till date.” He further said the university was now reprioritising its research in the perspective of new challenges faced by the agriculture sector with particular emphasis on depleting water resources and rising cost of cultivation etc. He encouraged the farmers to go for drip irrigation in order to combat the problem of scanty rainfall.

Ballowal Saunkhari Regional Research Station Director Dr Manmohanjit Singh highlighted the activities of the station and new crop varieties released by PAU.

‘Such fairs disseminate info about latest agri tech’

• PAU Vice-Chancellor Dr Satbir Singh Gosal inaugurated the mela and called upon the visiting farmers to opt for hybrid seed production, use inputs as per need, go for soil testing, adopt subsidiary occupations, focus on co-operative marketing and mechanisation and make use of expertise of PAU scientists
• He urged the farmers to attend kisan melas as they disseminate information about the latest agricultural technologies and recent advances in farm practices. He endorsed the concept of organic farming and highlighted the significance of social media platforms for connecting with university experts which played a vital role especially during Covid

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