Awareness camp organized at Village Jhoomianwali (Abohar); To promote cotton cultivation in South Western Districts of Punjab

Ludhiana, May 30, 2023: Punjab Agricultural University- Farm Advisory Service Center, Abohar organized an awareness camp at village- Jhumianwali, District Fazilka on Monday promote cotton cultivation in South Western districts of Punjab. The camp was organized under ‘Unnat Kisan Mission’, Punjab Government, to timely aware the farmers about various improved practices to enhance their cotton yields. In the camp, about 150 farmers participated from Jhumianwali, and neighboring villages like Wajidpur Kattianwali and Dangar Khera. The camp was presided by Dr. G.S. Butter, Director of Extension Education and Dr. Manoj Sharma, Principal Extension Scientist Animal Science, PAU, Ludhiana. In the camp, Dr. J K Arora, Dr. A K Sangwan and Dr. Manpreet Singh were present as experts to deliberate on cotton and fruit crops.

At the outset, Dr. G S Butter, Director, Extension Education, apprised the gathering about role of the improved practices in obtaining higher productivity of cotton. He urged the farmers to stay connected with university experts for enhancing their farm productivity with judicious management of resources. Dr. Manoj Sharma, Principal Extension Scientist Animal Science in his address highlighted the need of also adopting subsidiary occupations like Dairy and Goat farming. He emphasized that these subsidiary occupations can help in getting handsome income. Later, Dr. Manpreet Singh deliberated on various agronomic practices and nutritional requirements of cotton crop. Dr. J. K. Arora chatted with farmers about insect-pests and diseases of the cotton crop. He asked the farmers to regularly monitor the incidence of major insects pests like pink boll worm and whitefly on cotton for their timely management. Dr. A. K. Sangwan, Director, RRS, Abohar informed the gathering about various fruit crops suitable for cultivation in this region. He discussed various practices of fruit cultivation and highlighted the importance of elite planting material in sustainable fruit production. The experts also addressed one to one queries of farmers on cultivation of cotton, fruit crops and subsidiary occupations. Mr. Ashwani Siag and Vijay Siag, progressive farmers of the area thanked the university officials for organizing this awareness camp for the benefit of farmers.