Progressive farmers show the way

Share how they manage the crop residue efficiently to keep environment clean

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Ajay Joshi

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, September 24

Ahead of the paddy harvesting season, progressive farmers of the district have started acting as a guide to help fellow farmers to efficiently manage crop residues. They are using hi-tech machines for proper management of stubble where they are not only getting a good yield of potato, but are also not contributing to polluting the environment.

Amandeep Singh, a farmer from Lallian Khurd village on the Nakodar road, has held the baton to judiciously use the paddy straw instead of setting it on fire. The 26-year-old farmer owns nearly 300 acres and grows all seasonal crops. For the past six years, he has been mixing crop residues in soil to turn these into natural compost.

“After harvesting paddy and wheat, we use mulcher and other machines to mix stubble in soil. We then sow potato or some other crop on the same soil and after they are reaped, the soil automatically becomes nutrient-rich,” added Amandeep, who has done a course on Agriculture Machinery Operator. He has also formed a group of farmers in his village, who motivates others to not burn the stubble.

Similarly, Jagjit Singh, sarpanch of the village, has not burnt stubble in his fields for the last four years. By doing decent management of stubble in the fields, potatoes are sown in an area of about 200 acres. He says that by doing so, the health of the soil has improved immensely and the use of fertilisers has reduced.

Notably, he has also been honoured by the district administration for the correct management of stubble on August 15, 2019. He has taken a pledge to make his village free from stubble smoke, under which he offers his own in-situ machines to other farmers of his village for eco-friendly management of stubble.

He says he is sowing potatoes by managing stubble with in-situ machines in an area of about 150 acres and with this, the cost of cultivation has come down while the quality and production of potatoes has also increased.

Harmohinder Singh, a farmer of Kadian Wali village, says that for the last three years, potato has been sown in his 250 acres of land by decent management of stubble, bringing him decent profits.

Naresh Gulati, a district-based agricultural expert, says farmers have been using stubble to increase the fertility of the soil.

Under the Crop Residue Management Scheme, subsidies are being provided on SMS, super seeder, happy seeder, paddy stray chopper or mulcher, hydraulic reversible model for disposal of paddy stubble on behalf of the state government.

Deputy Commissioner Ghanshaym Thori has also appealed to the farmers to take advantage of the government scheme. “Instead of burning the paddy straw, it should be properly managed in the fields so that the environment could be saved from getting polluted,” he added.