Scientists, farmers mull natural farming at Haryana Agricultural University

Hisar, April 2

A seminar for agricultural scientists and farmers was organised at Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University (HAU) here today.

Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof BR Kamboj, presided over the seminar, which was also attended by CP Ahuja, a former member of management board, apart from Sharad Batra and Shivang Batra. Progressive farmers from different districts, who are engaged in natural farming, also participated in the seminar.

Highlighting the expansion of natural farming and its importance in the modern era, the Vice-Chancellor said the main objective of the scientist-farmer discussion seminar was to know the problems of farmers engaged in natural farming, solve them and make the research work in accordance with the requirement of the farming.

The Vice-Chancellor said in order to get better prices for the products, farmers should engage in natural farming. He also stressed on creating special courses to promote natural farming, organising more training sessions and exhibitions of agricultural models prepared by the farming community. He urged the farmers to create a WhatsApp group through which they could share their problems, get solutions that could immediately benefit them and it would also help in exchanging new technologies.

He said providing chemical-free and nutrient-rich foods to future generations was the main priority of scientists and farmers. “Farmers should initially adopt natural farming in a small area and gradually increase the area;” he said, adding that the scientists need to keep in mind the problems faced in the modern era whenever they do research, considering various natural resources, availability and quality of water, availability of workers, rainfall, organic carbon of the soil, weeds, crop cycle throughout the year.

Dr Anil Kumar, Director of HAU’s Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Centre of Excellence in Organic Farming, shared information about the ongoing experiments on various subjects. He also answered the questions asked by farmers. He added that the agriculture scientists had also been carrying out research on various fruits and vegetables related to natural farming.