Deputy Commissioner Barnala Punamdeep Kaur today visited the fields of farmer Jaspreet Singh at village Chungha where wheat has been sown with machine called surface feeder. She interacted with Jaspreet Singh and asked about the use of surface feeder developed by Punjab Agricultural University.
Deputy Commissioner added that surface feeders were given to farmers through cooperative societies in an initiative to prevent paddy stubble from being set on fire. The surface seeder (mulching) machine is used to sow wheat without burning the stubble after paddy is harvested. With this machine, 15 to 20 acres can be sown in a day.
Through this method, the paddy stubble is cut and spread with a reaper after the wheat seed is placed in the lines or spread. The crop is then irrigated immediately after sowing. After about 10 days wheat seedlings start to appear. This method is suitable for medium to short duration varieties and wheat after basmati.
Deputy Commissioner said that using surface feeder wheat has been sown in 40 places as an experiment in an area of about 125 acres in Barnala district. The farmers, who have sown wheat using surface feeders, say that they expect a yield of 24 quintals of wheat per acre.
Farmer Jaspreet Singh said that he has used surface feeders in 4 acres of land. Expense of around Rs 300 to 500 were incurred per acre. He said that immediately after harvesting paddy, he planted wheat by installing a surface feeder machine on his tractor in the dry fields.
He added that by using paddy stubble to cover the fields, the consumption of water and fertilizers has reduced. He said that wheat grain has also become heavy and he did not face any kind of problem.Farmer Jaspreet Singh said that the cost of this method is very low and time is saved using it as wheat was sown immediately after the paddy harvest.
Weed problems are very rare in wheat planted using this mulching method. With this almost all the seeds of wheat sown have germinated. Due to the presence of stubble in the field, the soil moisture was retained due to which the planted wheat required less water.
Chief Agriculture Officer Dr. Jagdish Singh said that surface feeders can be taken by farmers through cooperative societies and it can be used in tandem with any common tractor. Agriculture Officer Gurcharan Singh, Agriculture Development Officer Navjit Singh, Deepak Garg, Sukhpal, Sunita Rani and others were present on this occasion.