E-Paper
Ludhiana: Adopt integrated farming system, says PAU V-C to farmers
PAU V-C Gosal also solicited the support and cooperation of both urban, and rural areas in saving the state from water scarcity
In the wake of the ensuing kharif crop season—also called the paddy —Punjab Agricultural University vice- chancellor (V-C) Satbir Singh Gosal advised the farmers to adopt water saving agriculture technology during the Kisan Mela at KVK Nag Kalan in Amritsar on Thursday.
Addressing the farmers, the V-C said, “saving water resource is our foremost duty.”
Gosal also solicited the support and cooperation of both urban, and rural areas in saving the state from water scarcity. He exhorted the farmers to use short duration varieties, use biofertilisers and work on diversification of farm incomes.
He advised the farmers to use the new technology propagated by the university called surface seeding to tackle the problem of stubble burning.
He further stated that since the inception of kisan melas in 1967, the university for the first time served as a befitting interface between farmers and the Punjab government through the first Kisan Milni. The university collected the suggestions of the farmers and forwarded it to the government officials, so that a farmer focused agricultural policy can be formulated by the government. He also announced an email Id, at which farmers can send their problems and suggestions to the government.
Floriculture coming up as sunrise industry
After suffering a setback during the Covid-19 pandemic due to slow down on production, the floriculture industry is showing signs of revival. PAU V-C Satbir Singh Gosal, speaking about the industry on the concluding day of “MS Randhawa diamond jubilee flower show and competition, said, floriculture is coming up as the next sunrise industry.
Citing the country’s export figures, he said India has exported 23,597.17MT of floriculture products worth ₹771.41 crore across the world in 2021-22.
Gosal also enumerated important floricultural crops in the flower trade and named rose, carnation, chrysanthemum, gladiolus, gypsophila, orchid, anthurium, and lilium as the most sought-after cut flowers.
Expert turning to climate smart floriculture techniques
With rising temperatures posing a threat for the floriculture crop, the experts are turning towards climate smart agriculture and cross breeding the floriculture crops to make it heat tolerant.
PAU floriculture and landscaping department assistant professor Ranjit Singh said, “flower cultivation is being viewed as a sunrise industry due to its high export potential. This includes cut flowers, loose flowers, seed production and nursery production. Due to the prevailing climate change, it is expected to change the course of production. As we experience high temperatures, we need more climatically suitable varieties and crops. We need to identify new climatically smart genotypes which can withstand the impact of high temperature.”
“These genotypes may directly be used or need to cross with existing varieties which may take a few years to develop climatically suitable varieties,” Singh added.
“To cope with climate change we need to develop new climatically smart genotypes, changing agronomic practices and opt for protected cultivation (climatically controlled greenhouse/ poly house cultivation), “ said Singh.
