PAU Holds National Training Workshop On Direct Seeded Rice Technology

Ludhiana, October 5, 2015: The 4th National Training Workshop on “Direct Seeded Rice” was jointly organized by the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana; Haryana Agricultural University (HAU), Hisar; and the University of Adelaide, Australia at Karnal and Ludhiana. As many as 30 delegates from 13 states participated in the ten-day workshop, organized under the ACIAR funded project “Zero-tillage Rice Establishment and Crop-Weed Dynamics in Rice and Wheat Cropping Systems in India and Australia.” The workshop was held at Karnal and Ludhiana for six and four days, respectively.

Dr Gurjeet Gill, ACIAR Project Leader, University of Adelaide, Australia said the workshop was oriented towards providing hands-on-training on all aspects of production technology of direct-seeded rice (DSR). He told that apart from delivering lectures, the trainees visited long-term farmers’ field sites in Punjab and Haryana and interacted with them. A special farmer-trainee-scientist interaction session was also organized at PAU wherein farmers from Bathinda, Moga, Faridkot and Kapurthala districts participated.

Dr H.S. Dhaliwal, Dean, College of Agriculture, appreciated the model of the training workshop in which the trainers, trainees and farmers had been active partners.

Dr J. S. Dhiman, Additional Director Research (NR&PHM), observed, “Increase in water scarcity, reduced availability of farm labour and its rising costs, and suitability of DSR to mechanization have been the major drivers of on-farm adoption of DSR.”

Dr Thakar Singh, Head, Agronomy highlighted the research activities, being carried out by the department, on resource conservation technologies.

Dr M. S. Bhullar, PI-ACIAR Project from PAU, said, “DSR adoption trends in Punjab are a clear indication of the ready acceptance of this technology by the farmers of the region.”

Dr Dhamrbir Yadav, PI-ACIAR Project from Haryana shared the current status of DSR in Haryana.