Residents of Jatana, a small village in Khanna block, joined hands a few years ago and launched a drive against stubble burning. Today, they boast of their village being a pioneer in crop residue management.
Progressive farmers Amandeep Singh and Harjeet Singh from the village led other residents to make Jatana a “burn free” village.
Farmers of the village are now well-equipped to manage crop residue. Be it Happy Seeder, Super Seeder, Smart Seeder, reversible mould board plough or mulcher, they have it all.
“Farmers from the village deserve the accolades as they have made it ‘Burn Free’. Not only this, they have helped farmers of the adjoining Begowal, Mehdoodan and Araichan villages too by providing them machines for crop residue management on custom hiring basis. These villages too report minimal case of stubble burning,” said the duo.
Farmers generally consider managing paddy straw cumbersome. While the straw load is heavy, the sowing window (time frame) for wheat, potato or oil seed crops is less.
“Wheat and potato are major rabi crops in our village. Though these two crops require different practices for residue management, farmers have various machines to deal with the stubble,” said Amandeep.
Exasperated by perils of crop residue burning and owing to his dedication in trying Punjab Agricultural University’s (PAU) technologies, he alongwith Harjeet bought new Happy Seeder in year 2019.
Fellow farmers were excited about the experiment/demonstration of the sowing technique in their fields as it not only easily managed straw, but also saved time, money and labour. The stubble managed so did not require farmers to prepare field before sowing.
Efforts of the two progressive farmers bore the fruit, resulting in higher wheat yield in chunks of land where Happy Seeder was used to manage stubble (22.5 quintal/acre) in contrast to conventionally sown areas (21.0 quintal/acre).
Convinced with the results and motivated by Krishi Vigyan Kender (KVK), Ludhiana, Jatana villagers bought 15 Happy Seeders in year 2020.
“Farmers of this village have promised the KVK that they will not engage in stubble burning and encourage others too,” said Amandeep.
“The KVK provides technical knowhow to farmers, given them hands on training on crop residue management and holds demonstrations of PAU-recommended technologies,” added Harjit Singh.
