HAU, Netherlands to work on crop residue management

Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Hisar, April 15

Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University (HAU) and the Netherlands have joined hands to work on a project to tackle problems faced in management of paddy straw in the state.

A four-member delegation led by Siebe Schuur, counsellor for agriculture, nature and food quality, from the embassy of the Netherlands in India, came to the university and called on Prof K P Singh, Vice-Chancellor of HAU. Siebe assured the university of support in its efforts for the management of crop residue, particularly paddy straw. He said the Dutch companies were eager to invest in India and also appreciated the efforts of the university in sorting out the issue of paddy straw in the state.

The paddy straw management is a serious problem in Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. Due to lack of appropriate technology and methods, farmers are forced to burn the paddy straw which creates the problem of environmental pollution. However, the HAU is seriously working for providing simple and economical options to the farmers for safeguarding the environment as well as the management of paddy straw. The university has also got a project worth Rs 4 crore from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) to develop suitable technologies for crop residue management and popularise the available methods and machinery among the farmers.