E-Paper
Call to make agriculture more lucrative
?WE NEED to use the latest technology in farming for improving the crop production and at the same time reducing the costs involved in the process,? said Dr MM Agarwal, vice-chancellor of the Chandrashekhar Azad Agriculture and Technology University.
“WE NEED to use the latest technology in farming for improving the crop production and at the same time reducing the costs involved in the process,” said Dr MM Agarwal, vice-chancellor of the Chandrashekhar Azad Agriculture and Technology University.
He was speaking at the valedictory session of the five-day farmer fair and agriculture exhibition being held at the university on Friday. He further said that agriculture needs to be made more profitable to stop the farmers from giving up cultivation.
“There are reports of farmers selling their land to start more lucrative businesses. If the trend continues unabated, we may not have enough food grains one day,” he added. To prevent this from happening, we need to assure the farmers of good profits, which can be earned only when the crop production is increased without adding much to the costs, he suggested.
He advised the farmers to use micro-nutrients for improving the yield instead of just using fertilizers containing high doses of Nitrogen. “Soil needs different nutrients at different intervals and these could either be provided by using micro-nutrients after soil testing or through alternate cropping system,” he said.
Research has proved that if wheat is sown immediately after the rice crop, it fetches higher yield. So, the farmers should be encouraged to adopt such new crop-systems to enhance crop production, he added.
He suggested that zero-tilling mode of farming should be used to reduce the input costs i.e. fertilizers, water and tilling of the land. “The system requires sowing of the next crop soon after the previous crop is harvested without wasting even a single day’,” he said. Farmers who have used this system have earned better profits and higher yields, he informed.
He also asked the agro-scientists to develop technologies, which are cost effective and benefit a larger section of farmers. “Farmers should be offered higher prices for their crops. There is no justification of putting a limit on wheat prices when the prices of other commodities have risen many folds,” he said.
