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COMPENDIUM, IEEC-2023   ( ISBN : 978-81-967860-4-5 )
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Theme-3: Bio-diversity and Resource Conservation, Livelihood and Food Security towards Sustainable Agri-food Systems

Prospects of Paddy Straw Management Technologies in South-Western Punjab

Amanjot Kaur, Prabhjot Kaur and Pankaj Kumar

House number 16467, Street no. 2, Baba Farid Nagar, Bathinda, Punjab
dhaliwala290@gmail.com

Abstract

Punjab has the second-largest area devoted to paddy cultivation. The primary issue in Punjab is getting farmers to stop burning paddy straw in their fields and instead use various eco-friendly paddy straw management technologies. Due to the high number of paddy straw burning cases, the study was conducted in the Bathinda district of south-western Punjab. The study's objective is to familiarize with the potential of various paddy straw management technologies. A total of 135 farmers were selected from the district at random for this. The respondents in the Bathinda district had readily availability of a super straw management system and a happy seeder. So, compared to other technologies, farmers were more ready to employ these in the future, but as these technologies are used, the cost of production rises. Most farmers wanted to reduce the area covered by happy speeders and chopper cum spreaders. Despite being readily available to farmers, no farmer was interested in using a super straw management system in subsequent years due to rising production costs and an increase in rodent and insect attacks. Farmers intended to manage paddy straw by expanding the area under baler technology. They also find it difficult to operate this technology, but they sought to use it in the future because of the additional advantages provided as the majority of them noted that their cost of production remains the same and straw is managed in an environmentally friendly manner. In order to boost the prospects for all technological technologies and manage straw in an environmentally friendly way, it is necessary to address several issues through research systems, such as the inability to avail technology at an appropriate time and the rise in production costs.

IEEC-2023 at RARI (SKNAU, Jobner), Jaipur, Rajasthan organised by Society of Extension Education, Agra, India