Involve farmers in research: BHU V-C

BANARAS HINDU University vice-chancellor Prof Panjab Singh on Saturday said problems of farmers could be solved more efficiently if they were involved in agricultural research. He urged scientists to collaborate with farmers.

BANARAS HINDU University vice-chancellor Prof Panjab Singh on Saturday said problems of farmers could be solved more efficiently if they were involved in agricultural research. He urged scientists to collaborate with farmers.

HT Image

Prof Singh was delivering the inaugural address of a four-day regional science workshop on ‘Participatory Research on Wheat in South Asia’, here on Saturday.

This workshop is being organised, under the joint auspices of the Mexico-based International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre, the University of Wales Bangor, UK, and the BHU.

“In the eastern part of the Indo-Gangetic plains, a majority of farmers are small and marginal. There is a substantial number of landless farmers as well,” he said.

Prof Singh added they faced various problems in wheat cultivation, such as inability to plant wheat timely, insufficient input application, variable and uncertain irrigation, various forms of soil stress such as salinity, nutrient deficiency etc. “Therefore, there is an urgent need for development and dissemination of appropriate technology, taking care of the specific need of location and farmers,” Prof Singh said.

He said the BHU’s agricultural scientists had so far focused on various districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh and the adjoining districts of Bihar, such as Kaimur and Sasaram.

“Farmers have gained a lot by a combination of appropriate varieties (mainly wheat) and resource conservation technologies,” he said.