`Avoid the practice of burning of paddy straw to maintain the soil health and clean environment'

Ludhiana, November 30, 2017: A field day on “PAU Happy Seeder for wheat sowing and paddy residue management” was organised in the Bhullar Bet village of CM awardee progressive farmer S. Sukhdev Singh Bhullar on 29-11-17 by Farm Advisory Service Centre, Kapurthala with technical collaboration of Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, PAU, Ludhiana. Dr Paramjit Singh, Director Regional Research Station, Kapurthala was the chief guest. He strongly appealed to the farmers to adopt Happy Seeder for effective management of paddy residue. He also sensitized the farmers to avoid the practice of burning of paddy straw to maintain the soil health and clean environment. Among the galaxy of experts, Dr Pardeep Kumar, DES(SM), FASC, Kapurthala, Dr Jasvir Singh, Assistant Prof.(Agronomy), Dr S S Thakur, Research Engineer, Dr Gulzar Singh, Sugarcane breeder, Dr Rajinder Kumar, Asstt Entomologist, Dr Rajinder Pal, Asstt Prof.(Agronomy), Dr Bindu Marwaha, Associate Prof. (Agril.Engg.), Dr Gurmeet Singh, Asstt. Prof.(Plt.Prot.), Engineer Jagdish Singh, Department of Agriculture, Kapurthala and Madam Rimneet Kaur, PHD chamber of commerce and Industry also shared their views on Happy Seeder for residue management of paddy.

Experts shared with farmers that wheat sowing with PAU Happy seeder is quite economical, eco-friendly, effective in curbing weed infestation, facilitates aeration of roots and energy saving technique with multi-fold benefits. Dr Pardeep Kumar, DES(SM), FASC, Kapurthala advocated strongly to adopt this highly effective technology. To convince the farmers FASC, Kapurthala has demonstrated the wheat sowing with PAU Happy seeder in different villages of the district. Farmers pledged not to burn the paddy straw and showed inclination towards the PAU recommended machinery such as PAU Happy Seeder. An impressive exhibition of PAU publications was put up by Madam Jasjit Kaur on this occasion. Farmers took a keen interest in getting knowledge about finer nuances of PAU Happy Seeder and Super Straw management system (SMS), a combine attachment for spread of loose paddy straw before wheat sowing. A farmer-scientists interaction session was also conducted. In the end, S Sukhdev Singh Bhullar (progressive farmer of Bhullar Bet) proposed the vote of thanks to the experts and farmers.