On Kisan Mela, PAU to Honour Five Progressive Farmers.

Ludhiana: On the first day of Kisan Mela, the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) will honour five progressive and innovative farmers of Punjab for their excellence in agriculture and allied occupations.

S. Amarjit Singh, son of S. Bhagwant Singh and a resident of village Bahiram Sahista, district Jalandhar will be conferred with “Parwasi Bharti Award 2016” for excellence in diversified farming. By adopting innovative techniques in 12 acres of land, a XII pass young farmer, S. Singh has earned great recognition. For diversification, he has adopted beekeeping, dairy farming and seed production after acquiring trainings from the Department of Dairy Development, Punjab; Krishi Vigyan Kendra and other sources. He also obtained trainings in nursery raising of flowers and grafting of fruit plants from Cyprus during 1999-2002. Besides, he visited Italy and Switzerland to enhance his agricultural knowledge.

S. Singh has laid down underground water pipes, and makes judicious use of fertilizers and pesticides to save natural resources. He takes farm yard manure from other farmers and adds one packet of Trichoderma per trolley. He also raises nursery of fruits and vegetables in addition to PAU recommended varieties of basmati. He has been honoured by several committees and has become a lighthouse for the farmers of his area.

S. Rajmohan Singh Kaleka, son of S. Gurdeep Singh and a resident of village Bishanpur Channa, district Patiala will be conferred with “Sardar Dalip Singh Dhaliwal Memorial Award 2016” for touching new heights in agriculture. For the last 15 years, S. Kaleka is cultivating wheat-paddy in 20 acres of land using scientific techniques. He has contributed significantly to the soil health maintenance and environment protection by making judicious use of pesticides, fungicides and weedicides. He gets 23 quintal and 35 quintal yield of wheat and paddy, respectively. The wheat grain produced by him is spotless. He cultivates crops after consulting PAU scientists and by following its (PAU) recommendations given in its farm publications. As a result, friendly insects are seen in his fields in large number, which eat all the harmful insects. S. Kaleka has laid down underground water pipes for saving water, uses laser land leveler to level his fields, never burns wheat and paddy straw and instead buries it in the soil. He is a recipient of “State Award” and “National Innovative Farmer Award.”

S. Hakam Singh, son of S. Bagh Singh and a resident of village Mahila, district Sangrur, will also be awarded “Parwasi Bharti Award 2016” for making great strides in crop diversification. He has been honoured by several Farmers’ Welfare Organizations. A 60-year old progressive farmer has received training in mushroom cultivation from Punjab Agricultural University, beekeeping from State Department of Agriculture, preservation of vegetables from Agricultural Technology Management Agency (Sangrur) and in fruit production from Pepsi Farm, Jalowal, Jalandhar. He has travelled widely to give scientific touch to his farming. Till 1988, his fields were low-lying which he afterwards leveled with his hard work by 2003. Thereafter, he laid down underground water pipes in an area of 6 acres in 2009. He uses green manure and residues of vegetables to maintain soil health. Besides, he uses fertilizers on soil test basis. S. Singh has included basmatiand vegetables in his crop rotation and also owns a house. He has planted eucalyptus on the boundaries of his fields and has put some area under direct seeding of rice, which saves water as well as leads to increased profit. He uses laser land leveler for optimum use of water and better yield. Away from traditional farming, he has opted for contract farming for potato cultivation. Understanding the problems of marketing, he has found a way to sell his produce at Sunam, Sangrur and Malerkotla mandis.

Ms Vinod Kumari, daughter of Sh. Gurdial Chand and a resident of village Mayel, tehsil Garhshankar, district Hoshiarpur will be awarded “State Awardee Sardarni Jagbir Kaur Memorial Award 2016” for carving a niche in agriculture and allied enterprises. She is a wide awake and hard working woman, who is practicing farming in 5 acres of land. She has also adopted preservation of fruits and vegetables as subsidiary occupation and being the Head of Sandhya Self-Help Group, she has earned a great name. She prepares pickles, chutneys, murabas, jam, squashes, sharbats and masalas. She has been instrumental in enhancing the income of the members of self-help group and is contributing immensely to the women empowerment. She obtained trainings in agriculture and allied enterprises from Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Bahowal; Department of Food Science and Technology, PAU and other noted organizations. She is also playing an important role in conservation of natural resources. She uses drip irrigation method to save water. Besides, the water used for washing fruits and vegetables is further used by her for irrigating plants.

A man with scientific attitude, Chetan Verma, son of Sh. Rakesh Verma and a resident of Ranjit Bagh near village Sahowal, district Gurdaspur, will be conferred with “Sardar Surjit Singh Dhillon Award 2016” for successful strawberry cultivation. Under the guidance of his father, Chetan, a prominent boxer, started strawberry cultivation on modern lines in 2011 in 2.5 acres of land, taken on lease. He is making good gains by grading, packaging and marketing strawberry. He has set-up a processing unit for the production of strawberry crush and juice. He is having dreams of expanding his business by exporting strawberry burfi and shakes to other countries. He grows 32,000 strawberry plants in one acre of land. He uses vermi-compost for weed management and spreads straw on the beds to get better quality of fruit. He has adopted drip irrigation technique for water conservation. Chetan also grows chillies and broccoli for better economic returns. Through Strawberry Cultivars Welfare Society, he came out of the traditional crop rotation and become a pioneer in strawberry cultivation.

Source: Punjab Agricultural University (PAU)