UP farmer’s crop varieties a rage in Haryana
Sunit Dhawan
Tribune News Service
 Farmer Prakash Singh Raghuvanshi shows a wheat variety, developed by him, in Rohtak on Saturday. — Photo Manoj Dhaka |
Rohtak, January 19
Despite being visually impaired, Prakash Singh Raghuvanshi, a small-time farmer of Banaras, has shown way to lakhs of agriculturists across the country. Several wheat, paddy and mustard crop varieties developed by him have become a rage in many areas of Haryana.
On a mission to free the farming sector from market-dependence, he has distributed scores of self-developed high-yielding crop varieties among about 10 lakh farmers of many states.
Raghuvanshi’s efforts were acknowledged at the highest level last year when he was honoured by the then President Dr A.P.J.Abdul Kalam, with a national award under the National Innovation Foundation.
“The farmers should adopt self-developed seeds and manure instead of depending upon external agencies like private companies for the basic farm inputs,” observed Raghuvanshi while talking to The Tribune here today.
“Seeds are produced in farmer’s field and not in any factory or laboratory,” asserted the visionary farmer, who has himself developed as many as 100 varieties of wheat, 10 each of paddy and arhar, besides those of several other fruit and vegetables. These crop varieties are getting increasingly popular in Haryana as well, with a number of farmers coming forward to adopt them.
“These crops are a class apart from the ones we had been using in our fields for long,” said Dinesh Kumar, a farmer from Manoli village in Sonepat district.
“Raghuvanshi’s crop varieties are also popular in Kaithal, Kurukshetra, Rohtak and many other parts of the state,” claims Kamal Jeet, executive officer, Sristi Gyan Kendra, Rohtak, which had invited the progressive farmer to the town.
The good results are now being authenticated, with agencies like the Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Banaras Hindu University and Kanpur University.
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