Showing the way, Barnala village farmers turn to organic farming

Tribune News Service

Barnala, May 24

Kothe Wahegurupura village of Barnala district is witnessing an organic revolution with many farmers from the village taking an initiative to end the excessive use of fertilisers and pesticides.

The village has around 60 families of farmers and a majority of them have turned to organic farming.

While providing information, Amrit Singh, a farmer from the village, said almost 90 per cent of the farmers from the village were sowing wheat crop organically and the move was not only help the soil improve but also proved to be financially beneficial for them.

Amrit said he was involved in organic farming on 2.5 acres, besides pesticide-free farming on another 12 acres. He added that crops such as wheat, paddy, cotton, sugarcane and vegetables were grown successfully in his fields using organic means of farming.

“It is often seen that some of the farmers have little knowledge about the use of pesticides and that is why, they use these more than required, which adversely affects the soil health and also leads to pollution. Organic farming is much safer and easy to adopt. Farmers are earning well using organic means. By shunning the use of pesticides, I am saving around Rs 70,000 annually,” he added.

Besides adopting organic farming, a majority of the farmers in the village have not set their wheat straw on fire this time.

Appealing to the farmers to adopt organic farming and decrease their expenditure, the Chief Agriculture Officer, Barnala, Rachhpal Singh Khosa, said, “Initially, farmers should start sowing crops organically for their own use. Once they become an expert in it, they should adopt it on full scale. By adopting organic farming, the expenditure of farmers will also decrease as they stop using pesticides. It will help them make the environment pollution-free.”