Ludhiana | PAU signs MoA for smart seeder technology

The head of the department of farm machinery and power engineering Mahesh Kumar Narang said, “PAU (Ludhiana) smart seeder manages the paddy residues by incorporation and surface mulching and thus, smartly retains the benefits of both happy seeder and super seeder in a single machine”

A memorandum of agreement on ‘Tractor-operated PAU smart seeder’ was signed between Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) and two firms from Ludhiana and Ferozepur.

The MoA was sighned by PAU for smart seeder technology with two firms from Ludhiana and Ferozepur. (HT FILE)

Ajmer Singh Dhatt, director of research; Ashok Kumar, dean, College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology and director of extension education; Gursahib Singh Manes, additional director of research (farm mechanisation and bioenergy) congratulated Rajesh Goyal, scientist, and Manpreet Singh, extension scientist, for the commercialisation of the technology.

The head of the department of farm machinery and power engineering Mahesh Kumar Narang said, “PAU smart seeder manages the paddy residues by incorporation and surface mulching and thus, smartly retains the benefits of both happy seeder and super seeder in a single machine. The PAU smart seeder places wheat seeds in a well-tilled narrow band of soil and covers the seed rows with soil, using furrow closing rollers. This machine can be operated with a 45 to 50 hp tractor. The field capacity and fuel consumption of the machine is 0.4 ha/hour and 5.5 litre/acre, respectively.”

During 2021, PAU in collaboration with its industry partners worked to stop paddy straw burning under the corporate social responsibility (CSR) project initiatives and large-scale demonstrations/popularisation of smart seeder were conducted on around 200 hectares of area.

Training-cum-camp on safe food production practices held

Ludhiana The School of Organic Farming, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), organised an awareness camp-cum-training programme on “Safe food production practices and certification” at Pedhan village of block Nabha in Patiala.

The programme was organised in collaboration with Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Patiala; ATMA and The Nabha Foundation under the aegis of Biotech-KISAN Hub of the department of biotechnology, Government of India as a part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.

GS Buttar, additional director of extension education, PAU, shared the research and extension efforts of the university in promoting good agricultural practices (GAP) and urged the farmers to adopt PAU recommendations for better quality produce and higher profitability.

AS Sidhu, an expert, threw light on GAP for cultivation of summer moong and rice.