Joint meet

Joint meet 

“Scientists can learn a lot by visiting the fields,” said Dr Baldev Singh Dhillon, Vice-Chancellor, PAU, while speaking at the joint meet of the PAU Kisan Committee and Fruit and Vegetable Producers’ Committee. The Directorate of Extension Education, PAU, organised the meet, wherein University experts, Deputy Directors/Associate Directors from the Krishi Vigyan Kendras, and farmers from across Punjab participated. Various issues were addressed by the PAU experts. Chairing the meet, Dr Dhillon expressed concern over depleting water table, stubble burning, climate change and the rising expenditure on the purchase of farm inputs. He emphasised on creating awareness  among the farmers regarding various contemporary agricultural issues. Dr Mangal Singh Sandhu, Director of Agriculture, Punjab, told the farmers to avail the benefit of soil health cards for the proper use of recommended fertilisers. Referring to organic farming, Dr Sandhu said, “It is being practised by the dedicated farmers. He suggested, “Farmers should practice organic cultivation by forming clusters or groups.” He also called upon the scientists to conduct research on water quality and develop technologies for groundwater recharging. Earlier, Dr RS Sidhu, Director of Extension Education, welcomed the dignitaries, scientists and the farmers. He stressed on combating issues of underground water depletion and straw burning in Punjab.

Renewable energy experts meet 

A one-day meet of renewable energy experts was organised at Punjab Agricultural University to review the ongoing research work carried out by the School of Energy Studies for Agriculture (SESA) and to discuss future thrust areas in renewable energy.    Dr B S Pathak, former Dean, College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology (COAE&T), PAU, and consultant, United Nations Development Programme, stressed the importance of conjunctive use of biomass and solar energy. He praised PAU’s work in biogas technology. Dr SR Verma lauded efforts of PAU in installing a solar dryer at Farmers’ Produce Promotional Society (FAPRO), Hoshiapur. It is being used by 300 farmers for drying turmeric. The use of dryer has reduced the drying time for turmeric and improved the quality of turmeric as well.  Dr Parm Pal Singh, former Senior Research Engineer, SESA, suggested future research areas in the field of solar energy and emphasised the need to develop automated hybrid solar technologies.  Dr KD Mannan, former Dean, Postgraduate Studies, PAU, Dr PK Gupta, former Dean, COAE&T, Dr AK Jain, ex-Director, Sardar Swaran Singh National Institute of Bio-energy, Kapurthala and Dean, Environment and Earth Sciences, Central University of Punjab, also gave valuable inputs during the meet. Dr Jaskaran Singh Mahal, Dean, College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, thanked all the experts for their valuable inputs.  Earlier, Dr VS Hans, Director, SESA, welcomed the experts, faculty members and Dr Ashok Kumar, Additional Director of Research (FMBE). 

Workshop 

“It is vital to adopt cost-effective, innovative and modern approach to agricultural knowledge management and reform the agricultural extension system” said Dr HS Dhaliwal, Director, Punjab Agricultural Management and Extension Training Institute (PAMETI), Punjab Agricultural University. He was speaking at the workshop on the role of ICTs in knowledge management, wherein 22 participants from state agriculture and allied departments, and ATMA participated. Dr Dhaliwal said the emergence of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the last decade had opened new avenues, which couldplay an important role in gathering, organising, analysing and sharing the agricultural knowledge. Dr Chander Mohan, Additional Director, Communication, PAU dwelt on Decision Support System for control of late blight disease  in potato. During the programme, Ms Bharti Madan, Deputy Director (Information Technology), PAMETI,  informed about the use of various search engines, agricultural market information systems and web based knowledge portals like Agropedia, AGMARKNET, Agrisnet etc.  Dr Vishal Bector, an expert of agricultural engineering, persuaded trainees to change their mindset and widen their horizon. Er Rohit Sharma, expert of processing and food engineering gave demonstrations on expert system modules developed for wheat and paddy. Manish Sehgal and Mr Gurpreet Saini from Reuters Market Light (RML), Mohali discussed the information services being provided to the farmers by RML through mobile phones. They also explained the benefits of the android mobile application being offered by them. An exposure visit to AIR FM Gold Radio Station, Ludhiana and Doordarshan Kendra, Jalandhar was also organised. — TNS