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Ludhiana’s PAU to highlight new farm varieties, technologies at kisan mela on March 24
The PAU campus is all decked up, and several departments will put up stalls to fine-tune the skills and enhance the agricultural knowledge of the farmers through close interaction with scientists during kisan mela
The Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) is all set to hold a two-day kisan mela on March 24 and 25. Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, agriculture minister of Punjab will inaugurate the fest, whereas Satbir Singh Gosal, vice-chancellor, PAU, will preside over the event.
The university campus is all decked up, and several departments will put up stalls to fine-tune the skills and enhance the agricultural knowledge of the farmers through close interaction with scientists.
Extending an open invitation to the agricultural community for enthusiastic participation in the mela, Gosal said, “The university has worked hard day and night to uplift the socio-economic conditions of the farmers by evolving cost-effective technologies for facilitating agro-based industries and generating self-employment opportunities for the youths.”
Major highlights will include live demonstrations on PMH 14 of maize and SL 46 of sorghum, nursery raising techniques, kitchen garden model, newly released varieties of horticultural crops, mini herbal garden, vermicompost unit, integrated farming system unit, organic production technologies, sub-surface drip irrigation and fertigation etc.
The mela will also see competitions in the preparation of decorative articles, crop produce, use of millets for nutritious products and on-the-spot drawing competition on theme “A scene depicting simple and happy life”.
During the mela, fruit plants, flower seeds and seedlings, biofertilisers, cereal and oilseed crops, vegetable seed kits and seedlings, and processed products such as multigrain flour, pickles, fruit squashes, ready-to-serve fruit juice, multigrain cookies, tomato products etc. will also be available for purchase.
Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) is all geared up for the pashu palan mela slated to be held on March 24 and 25.
GADVASU vice chancellor Inderjeet Singh said, “Mela will be a centre of attraction for not only the livestock, fisheries poultry, goat and pig farmers but for the children, youth, senior citizens also, because different items will be on display for different age groups, sections and nature. While cattle, buffalos, goats and different species, including ornamental fish, etc. will be the main attraction for children, country-side scenes of the university will be a special attraction for the urban visitors”
He further stated that the mela will be more useful to the vocational courses’ students studying animal husbandry and rural culture as they will get more valuable information about the latest interventions in the field of animal husbandry, dairying, fisheries, etc.
Parkash Singh Brar, director of extension education said the experts of the university will provide on the spot knowhow through question answer session, discussions as well as practical demonstrations regarding upkeep, vaccination and other timely care of the small pets like dogs, cats, etc.
Ludhiana may disappoint the farmers and agro-entrepreneurs who have put their stalls across the universities campus.
As per forecast received from PAU met department, rain accompanied by thunderstorms and lightning is expected to lash parts of Punjab from March 23 to 25.
Parkash Singh Brar, director of extension education, GADVASU said special arrangements have been made to deal with extreme weather conditions. “Waterproof lecture sheds and tents have been installed in view of the rain forecast,” he added.
Notably, both the melas held in September last year were also washed away in rain.
Several pharmaceutical companies who had put their stalls in the GADVASU campus had to face losses of up to ₹2 lakhs as the samples displayed got drenched and damaged due to the rain.
The police have beefed up security inside and outside PAU and GADVASU in view of the fests.
As thousands of farmers from Punjab and nearby states will visit the universities to attend kisan mela and pashu palan mela on Friday, the city police have made all preparations to ensure safety of the visitors.
According to the officials of Ludhiana police, over 600 personnel including commandos have been deployed in the university premises during the two-days mela.
Additional deputy commissioner of police (ADCP, operations) Sameer Verma said as many as 500 police personnel and 190 commandos have been deployed at the fests.
