PAU assures chilli growers of Ferozepur and Kapurthala of exploring lucrative marketing possibilities; collective farming is the key: VC Dr Gosal

Ludhiana, August 17, 2023: With the ongoing efforts of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, and the Horticulture Department, Punjab, farmers of Punjab are taking huge strides in agricultural diversification, with a significant shift in vegetable crop production, especially in the adoption of chilli as a major crop. PAU developed Chilli Hybrid-27 (CH-27) has emerged as a predominant choice, steadily progressing from small-scale production to massive commercial level farming in and around a cluster of villages in the Malwa and Doaba regions of Punjab. In this regard, a delegation of progressive farmer-producers from Ferozepur and Kapurthala visited PAU and interacted with Dr Satbir Singh Gosal, Vice-Chancellor, PAU, and University officers, comprising Dr AS Dhatt, Director of Research; Dr TS Riar, Additional Director Communication; Dr TS Dhillon, Head, Department of Vegetable Science; Dr Ramandeep Singh, Director, School of Business Studies; Dr Kuldeep Singh, Head, Department of Extension Education; Dr Kiran Grover, Head, Department of Food & Nutrition; Dr Savita Sharma, Head, Department of Food Science & Technology; Dr TC Mittal, Head, Food Processing & Engineering; Dr GS Makkar, Deputy Director, KVK, Ferozepur; Dr SK Jindal, Principal Vegetable Breeder, among others. The meeting was also attended by Dr Simran Singh, Horticulture Development Officer, Punjab.

Farmers- chilli growers, processors and nursery producers, who had had interactions with Vice-Chancellor Dr Gosal and the University scientists on earlier occasions too, came with a hope to seek solutions with the pressing challenges faced by them vis-à-vis marketing and agribusiness, storage, pricing, monopolization etc. S. Balwinder Singh, a progressive chilli grower from Mahalam village in Ferozepur district shared that farmers increasingly faced the issue of indiscriminate rise in the rate of seeds at the hands of private players. He was endorsed by farmers S. Manpreet Singh, S. Lakhwinder Singh, S. Shamsher Singh and others from Ferozepur that boasts of a total 40,000 acres of area under low tunnel chilli cultivation. Farmers from Kapurthala also shared their woes of drying and storage of their produce, apart from seeking training in PAU in value addition and food processing.

Vice-Chancellor, Dr Gosal engaged in a fruitful conversation with the farmers, highlighting the exceptional yield and adaptability of PAU’s CH-27 to the local climatic conditions, also stressing that CH-27 was both heat and rainfall resistant, resulting in profitable returns. He further added that PAU was engaged in coming up with new varieties, hybrids, production and protection technologies; and above all, was committed to value addition, agribusiness and marketing so as to empower the farmers and facilitate their journey from producers to sellers. Dr Gosal expressed satisfaction that with the diversification of cropping, wheat-paddy rotational cycle has seen a changing trend. He further impressed upon the farmers that the need of the hour was to forge a strong association in the form of "Collective Farming" to counter a formidable market and ensure greater demand and plentiful profit.

Dr TS Riar and Dr Ramandeep Singh further guided the farmers to encash from their produce manifold by forming a registered association, for which PAU would pave a smooth path, helping them work out all constitutional modalities of the same. Dr Riar shared that PAU had been instrumental in the successful launch of associations in the domain of Honey, Bee Keeping, Mushrooms, Soyabeen, Tree Growers etc. and would be willing to play a constructive role in the formation of Chilli Growers Association. Dr Ramandeep Singh also stressed the importance of "Collective Farming", and Farmer Producer Company (FPC) which is the answer to future sustainable growth in agribusiness.

Dr Savita Sharma and Dr Kiran Grover also gave inputs of trainings in preparation of chilli paste, honey chilli sauce, chilli flakes etc. that PAU’s Food Incubation Centre could impart to the chilli growers. Dr AS Dhatt, while reviewing the contributions of PAU to farmers at large, reiterated that the University would help the chili growers with cold storage and sun drying technologies of chili produce, while Dr SK Jindal and Dr TC Mittal asserted that a tour to witness storage and processing technologies to Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh would be useful. Dr Dhatt also discussed the characteristic features of red, green and black chilli plants in India. He also assured the farmers that seminal trials in new chilli varieties at KVKs in their districts would be arranged. Dr Simran Singh also added that the Horticulture Department, Punjab, is working on the marketing of green, red and dry red chillies so that area under chilli cultivation could be increased in future.

While thanking the farmers. Vice-Chancellor, Dr Gosal, asserted that Punjab Agricultural University, reaffirms its stand on being the backbone of farmers, arming them with renewed farming, technical and entrepreneurial skills.