To bring latest horticultural techniques to the farmers’ fields and to make horticultural crops competitive at the international level, Punjab Horticulture and Food Processing Minister Chetan Singh Jauramajra on Friday inaugurated the Biofertilizer Laboratory under Horticulture Department at Citrus Estate, Hoshiarpur.
The laboratory has been built at a cost of Rs 2.50 crore under Rashtriya Krishi Vigyan Yojana to reduce the cost of chemical fertilizers of the landlords in the state and to protect the soil from contamination from chemical fertilizers, said Jauramajra.
The Minister said that in this laboratory, 10 types of organic fertilizers such as Azotobacter Carrier based, PSB Carrier Based, Azotobacter liquid formulation, PSB liquid formulation, Potassium solubilizing bacteria) have been produced in this laboratory through an MoU with ICAR-IARI. KSB liquid formulation, Zinc solubilizing bacteria (ZSB) liquid formulation, NPK providing liquid formulation, AM fungi, IARI Compost inoculant, Trichoderma virdi) will be prepared, which will be made available to the farming community at district level at reasonable rates as per demand.
Apart from this, the Horticulture Department will also provide necessary technical information to the landlords regarding the use of these organic fertilizers by organizing awareness camps.
Jauramajra said that according to the information received from the Indian Government agency ICAR-IARI, the use of chemical fertilizers can be reduced by 15-20 percent with the use of organic fertilizers prepared from this state-of-the-art laboratory, which directly increases the income of the landlord.
The Minister made it clear that the state of Punjab has become the first such state in India, which has established this state-of-the-art biofertilizer laboratory to protect the soil, water and air of the state from contamination and to increase the income of the landlords.
Jaudamajra appealed to the entire farming community to use the organic fertilizers prepared at this laboratory in their fields so that the environment can be protected from contamination.
