Farmers in rural Punjab may not know about Microsoft and the philanthropic Bill Gates. But they are now benefiting from a $30-million project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The foundation, along with the USAID, is bringing cutting-edge technology to Punjab, Haryana and other states in the cereal belt of the country through the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA).
The initiative is managed by International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT). CSISA, a 10-year project, aims at providing an overall strategy and an umbrella for contributing new science and technologies for accelerating short- and long-term cereal production growth in South Asia, including India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. Five hubs have been set up in India, one in Pakistan, two in Bangladesh and one in Nepal to execute the project. In India, the hubs are in Punjab, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Srinivas Rao, CEO of CSISA, says India has the maximum number of hubs in South Asia as it has the highest acreage in terms of wheat and rice, and also because more number of farmers are involved. ?This is a fairly ambitious public-private partnership in the farming sector with a very high objective in terms of transformation,? he adds.
In Punjab and Haryana, the project will have a major focus on rice-wheat, sugarcane-wheat, cotton-wheat and other associated crops through intercropping of oilseeds, pulses, vegetables etc as per the priority setting.
According to HS Sidhu, the hub manager for Punjab, ?Sustainability of resources like water and soil to improve yield in the cereal system is a major focus area for us, along with increasing the income of small and marginal farmers?.
A major advantage of the initiative is that it brings together various agencies for dissemination of technology for the farmer. Punjab has a 20-member technical working group to ensure the success of the initiative, including the director-research and director-agriculture of the Punjab Agriculture University, joint registrar cooperative societies (Jalandhar division), Zamindara Farmsolutions, Pepsico, Syngenta, Hariyali Kisaan Bazar and a number of progressive farmers.
?Majority of farmers in Punjab have no option for residue management. Paddy residue is usually burnt in the state, leading to extensive air pollution as well as loss of valuable nutrients in the soil. But we now have machines with which wheat can be sown even as the paddy residue is left standing in the field. The residue retains moisture in the soil, discourages the growth of weeds, and greatly encourages microbial activity. With the CSISA, we are introducing machines like straw management system for combine harvester. With this, harvesting of rice and sowing of wheat is done simultaneously on the field,? says Sidhu.
According to ML Jat, the hub manager for Haryana and western UP, the project will boost the deployment of existing technologies and market information by creating and facilitating innovative public-private sector partnerships in key hubs.
?The CSISA will have a focused agenda of developing and accelerating the adoption of conservation agriculture-based technologies to improve natural resources, crop productivity and farm profitability. We have held demonstrations at villages near Karnal, Ambala, Yamuna Nagar and other places to introduce farmers to these new agricultural practices that promote conservation agriculture,? he says.
According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation, conservation agriculture is a concept for resource-saving agricultural crop production that aims to achieve acceptable profits along with high and sustained production levels while also conserving the environment.
JK Ladha, IRRI representative in India, says the first phase of the project will taken over three years. ?This is a technology-driven initiative, and we aim to improve productivity, increase the farmers? income, and build food security.?
A major concern of the farmers is water, especially in a drought year. However, as Lal points out, the CSISA is introducing farmers to alternative technologies that can perform well in limited water conditions. ?With our encouragement, farmers are adopting direct seeding of rice. This requires 30-40% less water.?
The laser leveling technology, also being promoted by the CSISA among small and marginal farmers, is showing good results. ?Farmers are now discovering that with laser leveling they save on water and diesel, and also the man hours spent on the field,? says Sidhu.
And the results are showing. Says Jagdeep Singh, a farmer near Sangrur, ?I have got excellent results with the use of these latest technologies and I am further spreading the word among other farmers of my area.?