Eat without pesticide live long

Eat what is without Pesticide Spray. Grow natural, eat natural and be healthy and fit. Its all will happen when you will aware about your diet. Specially on vegetables think before eat. Punjab Agriculture University Ludhian located in India having a research project on vegetable crops in collaboration with Asian Vegetable Research and Development Centre (AVRDC) and Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT) on ‘Improving Vegetable Production and Consumption for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods in Jharkhand and Punjab’. An annual review and planning meeting of the project was held today in the Farmers’ Service Centre of PAU. In his welcome remarks Dr. M.L.Chadha, Director AVRDC-RCSA said that India being the second largest producer of vegetables in the world occupying an area of 7.00 million hectare with a production of 98.5 million tones contribute 15% of the total world production. The availability of vegetables is about 200 g per capita per day, which is less than dietary requirement of 300 g per capita per day, said Dr. Chadha adding that due to pressure of population, rapid urbanization and industrialization, land available for cultivation is squeezing that necessitates high tech production under net-house. Dr. Chadha shared progress of vegetable growing under protected conditions in India and China and emphasized well planned approaches for recommending sustainable and economical technologies for vegetable production.

Dr. P.S.Minhas, Director of Research, while inaugurating the meeting said that PAU has developed hybrids of various vegetables and passed on hybrid technology to growers through training programmes. He said that PAU has recommended net-house technology for vegetables such as tomato, capsicum and brinjal that has been well received by farmers. He appreciated the role of AVRDC in promoting vegetable crops globally.

Dr. D.S.Dhillon, officiating Director of Extension Education said that home gardening can be one of the ways of increasing production of vegetables. He cautioned that due to the frequent use of pesticides, the problems of residue retention in edible produce need to be addressed. He said that vegetables can play a great role in nutritional security and agricultural diversification.

Mr. Baldev Singh, Director of Horticulture, Punjab appreciated that AVRDC will establish strong partnership with PAU and work on research strategies for year round urban and peri-urban production, supply of safe and nutritious vegetables, adoption and consumption of high value vegetables for improving income and nutrition of communities. He said that in Punjab vegetables are grown on an area of 1.68 lakh hectare producing 2.54 million tons with an average productivity of 15.1 tonne per hectare.