Awareness campaign on optimum use of nitrogen fertilizers
The CINTRIN team with other officials at a demonstration plot at PAU. Photo: ICRISAT
Close to 3,000 farmers, who brought their soil samples for testing to a farmer’s fair (kisan mela) in Punjab, India, were given Leaf Color Charts (LCC) to create awareness on the technology for judicial use of nitrogen fertilizers in wheat and rice. The technology involves comparing leaf color of the plants at certain developmental stages with standards on LCC.
The awareness campaign was conducted by CINTRIN (Cambridge-India Network for Translational Research in Nitrogen). Future plans to adopt five villages in Punjab for awareness and dissemination of this technology were announced. Dr Tina Barsby, Director, National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB), lead of CINTRIN from UK, addressed the scientists of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) and was impressed by the overwhelming response of farmers to the fair.
Mr VP Singh Badnore, Governor of Punjab, Mr Tota Singh, Agricultural Minister of Punjab, delegates from UK and India, and more than 150,000 farmers attended the event held at PAU, Ludhiana from 22-23 September.
