KVK Hoshiarpur trains farmers in natural farming

Ludhiana, December 26, 2023: A two-day training programme on “Natural Farming” was organized by Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Hoshiarpur at village Bassi Ghulam Hussain of district Hoshiarpur. This training programme was funded by the ICAR project “Outscaling of Natural Farming through KVKs” in which a total of 47 farmers participated.

While welcoming the trainees, Dr Maninder Singh Bons, Associate Director (Training), KVK Bahowal (Hoshiarpur), highlighted the importance and scope of natural farming and motivated them to embrace natural farming for better human, soil and environmental health and sustainability. Dr Bons also appealed to the farmers to support the natural farmers by purchasing directly from them.

Dr Sukhwinder Singh Aulakh, Assistant Professor (Vegetable Science), KVK Hoshiarpur, encouraged the trainees to convert some portion of their land into natural farming.

Narinder Singh, President, Innovative Farmers Association (IFA), Hoshiarpur, delved into various aspects of natural farming, and stressed upon need to identify and preserve friendly insects and their role in natural farming.

Other progressive natural farmers of the district also interacted with the trainees. Karnail Singh of village Bassi Ghulam Hussain, who is a training Secretary of IFA, explained cultivation and self marketing of vegetables grown at his farm. Another veteran member of IFA, Sardar Tarsem Singh, village Neela Naloya, discussed value added products and cultivation of pulses and Bakhshish Singh, village Haripur, shared traditional knowledge and usage of herbs in everyday cooking.

Demonstrations were conducted on preparation of Jeevamrit, beejamrit and other concoctions for plant protection. Identification of local herbs and useful plants were also conducted for the benefit of participants.