Chandigarh: After recent findings of presence of high level of uranium and other harmful chemicals in the ground water, the Agriculture Department has decided to promote green farming in the state.

For this,the department is going to implement Integrated Pest Management (IPM) project in 150 villages of Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran, encouraging farmers to say no to chemicals.

Under the ISM project, the farmers will be trained in various aspects of pest management without use of chemicals. They will also be taught about the seed treatment and benefits of green manures. For this purpose, village youth will be trained to disseminate information among the farmers about the project.

“We all are seeing the harmful effects of the excessive use of pesticides. Environmental pollution is on the rise. The IPM project has been conceived keeping in mind that farmers of the region are given to the habit of excessive use of fertilisers whether required or not,” Chief Agriculture Officer PS Sandhu said.

“It is a vicious cycle; the more you use the chemicals to kill pesticides the more the plants become prone to pests. Being unaware of this fact, farmers keep on using more and more pesticides on plants, making them succulent and vulnerable. Ultimately, the result is needless expenditure on harmful chemicals and rise in environmental pollution,” Sandhu added.

Under the project, which is being supported by the Punjab Agriculture University, insect surveillance committee has been formed to formulate plan to protect crops from harmful insects without use of chemicals and encourage farmers to go for seed treatment at an early stage.

“The ISM will reduce seed diseases by 70 per cent. You can well imagine if 150 villages don’t find a need to use pesticides how much we will be doing service to the environment. In addition, we will encourage them to grow crops that replenish the soil and only use green manures,” Sandhu informed.