Farmer Scientist Interface on Direct Seeded Rice Organised
04 June 2021, Punjab: The Department of Extension Education, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), organized a farmer-scientist interface on “Tar-Wattar Direct Seeded Rice Technique” in which 48 farmers, scientists and Agriculture Development Officers participated. The programme was held in collaboration with the State Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, block Jagraon, Ludhiana.
Speaking on this occasion, Dr Kuldeep Singh, Head, Department of Extension Education, motivated the farmers to adopt Tar-Wattar DSR technology which is water and labour saving. Besides, he also called upon farmers to shift area from paddy to maize as there are many high yielding hybrids of maize were available and PMH 13 was the newest in the list released by PAU.
Dr Amit Kaul, Extension Scientist, Department of Agronomy, explained the various agronomic practices like field preparation, sowing time, seed rate, irrigation and weed control for getting success in DSR technique.
Dr Rajesh Goyal, Senior Scientist, Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, detailed on the use of machinery for DSR and explained the methods with which already available seed drills could be modified for the purpose of direct sowing of paddy.
Dr Gurdeep Singh, Agriculture Officer, Jagraon Block, Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Ludhiana shared his personal experience of DSR and explained the different schemes of the department with which farmers can be benefitted.
Dr Dharminder Singh, Senior Extension Scientist encouraged the farmers to remain in touch with agricultural experts through e-sources during this COVID pandemic. He also emphasized adoption of short duration varieties of paddy to get better returns and straw management.
Dr Raminder Singh, ADO, Jagraon, also interacted with the farmers.
Later, the participants had a productive discussion during the interface and experts answered their queries.
