Ludhiana, March 23, 2018: Farmers in large number thronged the Kisan Mela which kicked off at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) today. The theme of PAU’s mela is “reduce farm expenses, use water and fertilizers judiciously; adopt subsidiary occupations and enhance agri-profit largely.” The Governor of Punjab and Chancellor of PAU, Sh V. P. Singh Badnore, who was the chief guest, inaugurated the Kisan Mela. Mr Viswajeet Khanna, Additional Chief Secretary (Development), Punjab, was the guest of honour. Mr J.M. Balamurugan, Secretary to Governor of Punjab, was also present on the occasion.
In his address, Sh Badnore said, “I am attending this Kisan Mela for the second time. Having been to various agricultural universities of India, I think PAU is matchless as it involves farmers’ participation which is nowhere else in India.” Lauding the Punjab farmers for toiling hard to make the country food secure, he said, “What you have done for the country cannot be forgotten. Farm varsities are researchers and you are producers. You take forward the research done by the universities.” Expressing his gratitude to the Punjab state for providing water to Rajasthan, he stated, “I am also a farmer. Earlier, there was no drop of water in two districts of Rajasthan namely Surajgarh and Ganganagar. But now the water supplied by Punjab has strengthened these two districts.” Farmers of Punjab are ahead of Rajasthan and wise enough to take important decisions regarding farming, he remarked. Citing the example of dry places in Rajasthan which have not received rainfall for the past eight years, he said the adoption of animal husbandry can benefit the farmers belonging to dry places. Hailing the whitefly management by PAU, the Governor advocated the use of PAU developed Happy Seeder technology to curb stubble burning, and crop diversification by growing fruits and vegetables.
Mr Khanna said, “Punjab has been awarded Krishi Karman Award for the year 2015-16 for the highest productivity of food grains.” He congratulated the farmers and attributed the success to their hard work. Expressing concern over water crisis in the state, he disclosed that out of 145 blocks, 110 are dark and critical. Mr Khanna called upon the research institutions to develop early maturing, less water consuming varieties. He further revealed that the survey on stubble burning has shown 46 per cent decrease in straw burning cases in Punjab (2017-18) as compared to the previous year (2016-17). The government has initiated the work on linking roads with Rs 2,000 crore and repair of mandis with Rs 750 crore for the benefit of the farmers.
Earlier, in his welcome address, Dr Baldev Singh Dhillon, ViceChancellor, PAU, said the mela provides a pedestal to the farmers to interact with the scientists and give their feedback about new technologies. He urged the farmers to maintain farm records, focus on profit instead of income, use farm inputs as per recommendation, and do joint marketing and mechanization. Stating that the PAU developed paddy varieties PR 121, PR 122, PR 124 and PR 126 have shown excellent results in fields, Dr Dhillon said that varieties sown betweenJune 15-25 can save a lot of water. He appealed to the farmers to visit Food Industry Business Incubation Centre at PAU, where they can get their produce processed.
Dr A.S. Nanda, ViceChancellor, GADVASU, said, “Earlier the farmers of Punjab brought green revolution, and now they have paved way for milk revolution in the country.” India is a leader in milk production with 66 million tonnes of milk being produced by its dairy farmers, he revealed.
At the mela, PAU honoured four progressive farmers of Punjab, namely Hardeep Singh (Patiala) with ‘Chief Minister Award,’ S. Gurvinder Singh Sohi (Fatehgarh Sahib) with ‘Sardarni Prakash Kaur Sra Memorial Award,’ and S. Jagmohan Singh (Moga) and S. Tarsem Singh (Hoshiarpur) with ‘CRI Pumps Awards’ for excellence in agriculture and allied occupations.
Four scientists of PAU were also honoured for their contribution to agriculture development. These included Dr Paramjit Singh, Director, Regional Research Station, Bathinda; Dr Manmohanjit Singh, Director, Regional Station, Ballowal Saunkhri; Dr S.C. Sharma, Associate Director, Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Samrala; and Dr Bhupinder Singh Dhillon, Associate Director, KVK, Amritsar.
On the occasion, the chief guest and the guest of honour were honoured with shawls and mementos by the Vice-Chancellor of PAU. The Governor also released a set of publications published by PAU.