14 January 2021, Punjab, IN: In the quest for stopping paddy straw burning and ensuring environmental sustainability, a farmers’ meet was organised by the Punjab Agricultural University and Arisudana Industries under the collaborative project “Corporate Association for Residue Management (CARM)” at village Jaspalon. The CARM project between PAU and Arisudana Industries is in progress under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives of Arisudana industries to create awareness among farmers to adopt straw management technologies for in-situ management of paddy straw without burning. The farmers’ meet was organised to felicitate farmers of Jaspalon, Rupalon and Begowal villages, who adopted the straw management machinery for no straw burning in their fields.
In his presidential remarks, Dr Jaskarn Singh Mahal, Director of Extension Education, PAU, said: “Ludhiana is a pride hub of industries in India and it is an exemplary initiative by the Arisudana Industries to join PAU in the endeavour to stop straw burning in the region.” Dr Jaskarn mentioned that PAU has already developed number of technologies for in-situ management of paddy straw, namely, Happy Seeder, PAU Super SMS, Paddy Straw Chopper-cum-Spreader, Mould Board Plough, etc. These technologies are required to be widely practiced by the farmers for which PAU is already collaborating with various stakeholders like State/Central government, public/private organisations, farmers’ group etc. in launching its campaign to reach every farmer and village of Punjab in educating them to use technology based solutions to stop straw burning. He acknowledged the contributions made by Arisudana industries and hoped that more collaborators will come forward in the future for this noble cause.
Mr Gagan Khanna, Managing Director of Arisudana Industries, along with his team including Mr Sidharth Khanna, Executive Director and Mr Pardeep Singh Arora, Chief Financial Officer, expressed his gratitude to be the part of this collaborative project with PAU for supporting the farmers and society under company’s CSR initiatives. He also ensured the every possible support in future to expand the project multiple folds in the years to come.
Dr Gursahib Singh Manes, Additional Director of Research (Farm Machinery and Bioenergy), shared the benefits of various straw management technologies developed by PAU and interacted with the farmers on their experience and feedback using the farm machinery for managing paddy straw without burning.
Dr Vishal Bector, Associate Director (Industrial Linkages), PAU said that the University has always worked in collaboration with all its stakeholders including industries to provide technological solutions to the farmers. He also mentioned about the wide scope of industry participative projects with PAU under CSR initiatives.
Dr Narinderdeep Singh, Deputy Director, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Samrala shared the project activities and active participation of 136 farmers in the project to ensure no straw burning on around 1,000 acres in the selected villages Jaspalon, Rupalon, Begowal.
The team of experts including Dr Sandeep Singh, Dr Amarjeet Singh, Dr Amarjeet Singh, Dr Davinder Tiwari and Er Karun Sharma also participated in the meet and interacted with the farmers on their specific queries related to PAU recommended crop production and protection practices to be under residue management conditions.
