Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) vice-chancellor (V-C) Baldev Singh Dhillon on Monday expressed concern over the shortage of labour amid the coronavirus lockdown and advised farmers to opt for alternative ways that are less labour intensive during the paddy sowing season.
In a video message through Facebook handle of the university, Dhillon said, “Paddy sowing is labour intensive and I do not know whether the labour will be available for this season or not. I will recommend that alternative ways such as direct sowing and bed planting of rice should be opted.”
‘MAKE USE OF WEEDICIDES IN CROPS’
He said that farmers opting for bed planting and direct sowing of rice (DSR) technology should remain alert about the weed and use weedicides as recommended by the agricultural university. “Such weedicides can be sprayed through super seeder or lucky seeder machines, while sowing the crop,” the V-C said, adding that DSR technique is not recommended for light soil, but provides encouraging results in heavy and moderately heavy soil areas.
V-C Dhillon also rubbished social media rumours that claim that the university was against the new technologies. “The university had given nod to bed planting of rice in 2007 and the technique of direct sowing of rice was given a nod in 2010,” he said, adding that a crop should be sown when there is enough moisture in the soil and air, and the field should be watered only after 21 days of sowing.
{{/usCountry}}V-C Dhillon also rubbished social media rumours that claim that the university was against the new technologies. “The university had given nod to bed planting of rice in 2007 and the technique of direct sowing of rice was given a nod in 2010,” he said, adding that a crop should be sown when there is enough moisture in the soil and air, and the field should be watered only after 21 days of sowing.
{{/usCountry}}The agricultural expert also said that the farmers who have never done direct sowing of rice should stick to the conventional method and use the new technology on one-fourth of the land on an experimental basis.