Manav Mander
Ludhiana, September 22
Stage is set for the kisan mela, which is being held after a gap of two years. The theme of the mela to be held on September 23 and 24 is ‘Kisani, jawani ate paun-pani bachaea, aao rangla Punjab banaea’. (Come, let use make rangla Punjab by saving youth, farming and natural resources). Bhagwant Mann, Chief Minister, Punjab, will be the chief guest on the occasion.
Contact experts for guidance
Farmers are advised to contact Dr Yuvraj Singh Pandha (98727-44194) for insect-pest management, Dr Amarjit Singh (94637-47280) for disease management, Dr Amit Kaul (81464-00233) for agronomic practices, Dr Varinderpal Singh (81460-37755) for fertiliser and soil-related issues, Dr JS Brar (99158-33793) for fruit cultivation, Dr Dilpreet Singh Talwar (95927-72123) for vegetable cultivation, Dr Arshdeep Singh (97799-41983) for farm machinery, Dr Tarsem Chand (97799-00640) for agro-processing and Dr Kiran Grover (94173 -76488) for home science.
Dr Satbir Singh Gosal, Vice-Chancellor, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), said, “Farmers will be acquainted with new technologies through live demonstrations, exhibitions and technical sessions. The question-answer session will address queries of farmers.”
Dr Ashok Kumar, Director, Extension Education, said, “Various departments will put up stalls to provide scientific and technical knowhow to farmers, farm women and youths.”
In addition to the newly recommended varieties of crops, namely PBW 826 of wheat and OL 16 of oats, live demonstrations will be given on rooftop/terrace vegetable nutrition garden using soilless media, straw management machinery (PAU Super SMS, Smart Seeder, Happy Seeder, Super Seeder and Chopper-cum-Shredder), sprayers (self-propelled high clearance sprayer and electrostatic sprayer), methods of planting fruit trees and techniques of irrigation/drip irrigation in orchards.
Demonstrations will also be given on resource conservation technologies such as tar wattar direct seeded rice, use of green manure before rice, zero tillage in maize and wheat, sub-surface drip irrigation and fertigation, new cropping systems for crop diversification, narrow spacing of Happy Seeder and integrated farming system for income enhancement.
Among exhibitions, stalls of agriculture, horticulture, agricultural engineering and processing, renewable energy technologies and community science will be put up during the mela.
In agriculture and horticulture, farmers will be educated about mushroom cultivation, natural resource conservation, low tunnel technology for vegetables, insect-pest and disease management in fruit plants, pot plants and their arrangement in landscape, beekeeping as subsidiary occupation, wheat varieties and their sowing time under poplar plantations and clones of poplar and eucalyptus.
The mela will see competitions in crop produce competition, diya painting and decoration, use of millets for nutritious products, knitting for farmers and farm women, and drawing competition on the title “A scene depicting happiness” for eight to 12- year-old-children.
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