An advance course on "Conservation
Agriculture: Gateway for Productive and Sustainable Cropping Systems"
began at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) on Monday. The course is jointly
organised by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre, Cereal
System Initiative for South Asia
Punjab Hub and PAU.
The course that will end on June 9 is being
attended by participants from Iran, Afghanistan, China, Bangladesh and India.
Inaugurating the programme, chief guest
Baldev Singh Dhillon, vice-chancellor, PAU, said India's agricultural
production had jumped to 253 million tones in 2011.
"The cropping intensity which was 126%
in 1996 has risen to nearly 190% at present," he said.
Dr Dhillon emphasised the need to adopt conservation agriculture practices for efficient use of water and nutrients and preservation of natural resources.
Dr Dhillon emphasised the need to adopt conservation agriculture practices for efficient use of water and nutrients and preservation of natural resources.
"In order to meet the national food
requirements, technology innovations in farm sector and their proper
dissemination to the farming community is vital," he said.
Lauding the progress of the PAU in
conservation agriculture, he advised the farmers to adopt university-designed
techniques such as Laser Land Leveller and Happy Seeder for productivity
enhancement and resource conservation.
ML Jat, senior cropping system agronomist,
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (India), presenting an
overview of the course, said trainees from varied spheres, including agronomy,
soil science, engineering, plant breeding and plant pathology were
participating in the programme.
Jat added that conservation agriculture acted
as a vehicle for change for sustainable natural resources and crop management.
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