Punjab Agricultural University students to turn crusaders against stubble burning

LUDHIANA: In a bid to further intensify the farmers’ sensitization campaigns aimed at checking paddy straw burning, students from the NSS and College of Agricultural Engineering, PAU, were put through a one-day training camp, organized by the department of farm machinery and power engineering, PAU.
Dr Manjit Singh, head of the department, said the students will start a door-to-door paddy straw management campaign under which two students have been allotted a village each.

The students will share relevant literature with farmers and educate them about the reasons to stop burning stubble while adopting scientific techniques for its proper management.

He added the students have also been trained to provide technical intervention where required. After demonstrations and briefing about the PAU developed machinery for straw management, hundreds of campaign participants were seen listening to the experts talk at the Pal Auditorium.

“It is heartening to see students participate in this activity who are spreading the message that all sections of the society need to come forward to stop stubble burning,” said Dr Manjit Singh.

Delivering a lecture on paddy straw management at PAU, Dr Arshdeep Singh, assistant research engineer, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), said lack of awareness and sensitivity, high operating cost of machinery and fear of delay in wheat sowing lead to residue burning in Punjab. Around 600 NSS volunteers of PAU attended the lecture that was organized by the directorate of students’ welfare.

The lecture was organized on the directions of vice-chancellor Dr Baldev Singh Dhillon in order to train students, hailing from rural areas, and exhort them to go to villages to motivate farmers to adopt straw management technologies.

Dr Singh said 20 million tonnes of paddy straw was produced in Punjab due to enormous rice production. Due to short window period to clear the field for wheat sowing, farmers indulged in stubble burning, which further deteriorated the soil physical health, polluted the environment, caused accidents and human ailments, he observed.

Dr Singh suggested collection of straw for diverse uses, in-situ straw management, wheat sowing with straw as mulch and incorporation to manage crop residue.

Rake and baler can be used for straw baling which can further be used for ethanol production, cardboard/paper making, mulching in orchards and crops, animal fodder, biomass-based plants.

Machines such as combine-fitted super straw management system, PAU happy seeder and straw cutter-cum-spreader can be used for in-situ mulching, whereas, rotavator, seed drill, harrower, can be used for in-situ incorporation, he advised.

Dr Singh disclosed that as per the trials conducted by the Departments of Agronomy and Soil Science on the effect of residue management, it was found that rice-wheat productivity touched 122.1 quintal/hectare with paddy straw incorporation and 123.1 quintal/hectare with paddy straw mulching with Happy Seeder after eight years. He exhorted the NSS volunteers to go to the villages and make an effort to turn them into zero burning villages.

On the occasion, a literature on straw management was distributed among volunteers to further distribute it among farmers in villages.