A two-day workshop on ‘Sustainable Approaches for Management of Crop Residues’ was organized on March 9-10, 2021 by Krishi Vigyan Kendra, S.A.S. Nagar for the officials of district Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Horticulture and Soil Conservation Departments. This workshop was held to deliberate upon the various aspects of stubble burning and technological updating of officials of concerned departments. In the inaugural address, Associate Director KVK, Dr. Parminder Singh welcomed the delegates and highlighted the activities done by KVK, SAS Nagar and their parent organization Guru Angad Dev Veterinary & Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana regarding in-situ and ex-situ management of crop residues in last three years. Dr. Singh mentioned that the pollution emanating from the burning of crop residues has become a significant environmental and political issue in recent years. Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi through its vast network of KVKs and Punjab State Govt. through agriculture and other allied departments have vigorously sensitized farmers regarding the ill effects of stubble burning and encouraged them to mix the residue in the field rather than burning it.The concerned departments have collectively succeeded to a large extent in persuading the farmers to shun the practice of stubble burning.
However, the target of 0% stubble burning is far away.The chief-guest of the inaugural session, Dr. R.K. Raheja, Chief Agriculture Officer opined that crop residue burning is not just an environmental issue but a menace to the society considering its widespread implications. He also discussed the existing challenges faced by farmers for management of crop residues. The short time window between the harvesting of paddy and sowing of next crop is the major bottleneck to achieve the target of no stubble burning.Dr. Dinesh Kumar, Deputy Director, Horticulture underscored the need for better coordination between KVK and other concerned departments to chalk out a common strategy to ensure no stubble burning of residues in the district takes place. He also lauded team KVK to organize this workshop on the topic which assumes great importance for the environment and society. Dr. Harjinder Singh, Divisional Soil Conservation Officer stressed upon the significance of crop residues in maintaining soil health and gave an insight of severe damage caused to the soil if these residues are burnt. In this workshop, various resource persons (Drs.) Munish Sharma, Parul Gupta and Navjot Singh Brar from KVK Mohali, Harshneet Singh from KVK Ludhiana and Opinder Singh from KVK Rupnagar delivered lectures. The organizing secretaries of this workshop Dr. Vikas Phulia and Dr. Harmeet Kaur coordinated the event and thanked all the delegates for making this event successful.