PAU To Honour Five Progressive Farmers On Kisan Mela On Sept 25

Ludhiana, September 23, 2015: The Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) will honour five progressive farmers on the first day of PAU Kisan Mela on September 25. The innovative farmers will be awarded plaques, citations and cash prizes for their excellence in agriculture and allied activities.

S. Gurpreet Singh Sidhu, a resident of village Mehraj, district Bathinda will be conferred “Sardar Dalip Singh Dhaliwal Memorial Award 2015” for touching new heights in agriculture. A 27-year old progressive farmer, S. Sidhu has been practising farming on his 40 acres 2 kanal land for the last 12 years. He has acquired immense farm knowledge by remaining in touch with the experts of Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Bathinda and Farm Advisory Services, Bathinda. S. Sidhu conserves precious natural resources, maintains soil health and protects the environment by adopting modern scientific methods. He never burns paddy straw and instead, chops it with the chopper machine, and buries it in the soil with the use of rotavator and disc harrow. S. Sidhu also grows fruits, vegetables, pulses, oilseeds and spices in his household kitchen garden. In addition, he has adopted dairy farming as a subsidiary occupation.

S. Harbans Singh, a resident of village Tarpai, district Amritsar, will be awarded “Sardar Ujagar Singh Dhaliwal Memorial Award 2015” for excellence in vegetable cultivation. A 69-year old progressive farmer, S. Singh is engaged in agriculture for the last 25 years. He is growing vegetables on 20 acres of land for the past 10 years. During Rabi season, he grows peas, gobhi, tomato, fodder whereas during Kharif season, he grows okra, chilies, brinjal, paddy and basmati. He follows PAU recommendations regarding vegetable cultivation, marketing and earns about Rs 25 lakh per annum. He has a good collection of farm machinery such as laser land leveler, rotavator, etc. Besides, he owns five cows which give him 14000 litres of milk per year. He has become a source of inspiration for other farmers of his area.

S. Jinder Singh, a resident of village Sandhuan, district Rupnagar will be awarded “Parwasi Bharti Award 2015’ for excellence in diversified farming. After obtaining trainings in successful cultivation of fruits and vegetables, he is practicing scientific farming on just three acres of land. He is also running his nursery raising venture under the brand name “Chamkaur Sahib Nursery Farm, Sandhuan.” He is successfully doing the intercropping of wheat-moong-basmati, potato-spinach-moong, onion-basmati, chillies-coriander-berseem, vegetable nursery-onion and basmati-gobhi-chillies. He has earned great recognition in protected cultivation and his success stories have been carried in the farm publications of KVK, ICAR, Modern Kheti and Sir Ratan Tata Trust. A video on vegetable cultivation namely “The Net House of Net Profit” has also been found on YouTube. To save water, he uses drip irrigation technique and to maintain soil health, he uses vermi-compost. To reduce expenses and enhance profits, he goes for custom hiring of farm machinery. He is a recipient of several awards.

S. Gurdeep Singh Brar, a resident of village of Mahima Sawai, district Bathinda will be conferred “Sardar Surjit Singh Dhillon Award 2015” for making great strides in agriculture by adopting latest scientific techniques. He owns two acres of land and has taken one a half acre on lease. After acquiring trainings from KVK Bathinda, he has diversified his fields and is cultivating fruits and vegetables for the last 15 years. He grows vegetables using bed planting method and irrigates his fields with less water. Besides, he uses farm yard manure, green manure and nectar instead of pesticides. He has been honored by Ambuja Cement Foundation and Kendra Bhanadar Nigam, GOI for organic cultivation of vegetables.

Smt. Shehnaz, a resident of Bathinda district, will be awarded “State Awardee Sardarni Jagbir Kaur Grewal Memorial Innovative Woman Farmer Award 2015” for making vital contribution to allied agriculture enterprises. She is a highly qualified woman entrepreneur who after pursing M.A., M.Sc Fashion Designing and B.Ed has carved a niche for herself in home made products. She prepares pickles, chutneys, jams, squashes and porridge. Besides, she has adopted beekeeping as an auxiliary occupation. After receiving trainings from KVK Bathinda, she started her own venture in food processing. She markets her products under the name “Fresh Hub Homemade Products” and is able to earn substantially. She is an active member of PAU Kisan Club, Punjab Young Farmers’ Association, Progressive Farmers’ Self-Help Group and Beekeeping Society, Bathinda.