Oz farmers share biz opportunities, innovative techniques in agriculture

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, December 8

One-day workshop on knowledge sharing between Indian and Australian farmers was organised at Central University of Punjab. The workshop was organised by the Department of Environmental Science and Technology in collaboration with Charles Darwin University, Australia.

During the workshop, farmers from Northern Territory Farmers Association (NTFA) from Australia visited the Central University of Punjab and interacted with farmers from Malwa and surrounding area. The main objective of the workshop was to share economic opportunities and innovative techniques in the sector of agriculture.

Vice-Chancellor professor RK Kohli presided over the workshop. Registrar KP Singh, CUP faculty and farmers from different villages participated in the programme.

Kamaljit Kaur from Charles Darwin University Australia said the purpose of their visit was to share knowledge on economic opportunities for sustainable farming between Indian and Australian farmers.

She said, “Farmers should consider human, social, technological and ecological capital while selecting crops and fixing the price of final agriculture product.”

She shared the list of fruits and vegetable crops popularly grown in Australia. She also presented the success stories of NT farmers who gradually built their farming business from small scale to big export-oriented farming units and emphasised that the farming community can yield maximum benefit with the adoption of sustainable farming practices.

NTFA CEO Greg shared that NT Australian farmers use available opportunities to develop agriculture and horticulture business.

He said, “NT farmers cut their crop early so that it can survive long-distance transportation period. Land for farming in Australia is allocated after checking the suitable slope, soil depth, drainage, pH and groundwater level. Farmers in Australia follow sustainable agriculture practices, agriculture integrated pest management systems and consider market demand to maximise their earnings.”

He added, “Punjab’s land is more fertile as compared to NT Australia and farmers here can get a higher yield with the help of sustainable agriculture practices.

NT Australian farmer Tau shared her story of starting mango farms spread in 600 hectares. She shared different mango varieties they grow and put a light on the technology they use for mango picking.

Krishan Kumar Jakhad, a progressive farmer from Rajasthan shared that with the help of organic farming, he developed his farming business from a small piece of land and to hundreds of acres. He added, he grows a wide range of crops from kiwi, sweet lime (mausami), chikoo, anzeer and other. He informed that he uses biochar, jivo amrit, agriculture compost to increase the fertility of the soil and get high-quality yield.

Later, Jaspreet Singh shared the simple and effective methodology being used by Punjab farmers to segregate Kinnow (Kinu).