On December 22, 2024, a technical guidance workshop for farmers was conducted at Lovely Professional University (LPU), which signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) regarding research cooperation in September 2021. LPU and the Aakash project are conducting joint research on field experiments for diversifying crops in Punjab. As one of the practical methods aimed at transitioning to sustainable agriculture, a biochar production workshop was conducted by Professor Eiji Nishihara (Tottori University).
First, Professor Chandra Mohan Mehta (LPU) spoke about the initiatives of the Aakash project, emphasizing the serious issues arising from the complete prohibition of straw burning and the decline of groundwater due to rice cultivation, as well as the importance of transitioning to alternative crops. Next, Professor Nishihara discussed biochar made from agricultural waste, sharing examples of biochar projects in various countries and the management of carbon credits through biochar application. After that, a demonstration of biochar production from rice straw was conducted using the biochar furnace with earthen walls built in LPU’s field and the Kon-Tiki kiln.
The day after 18 hours had passed since ignition, biochar was removed from the kiln. The biochar produced in the earthen-walled biochar kiln is applied to the LPU fields before wheat sowing. The soil improvement effects of applying biochar are being jointly verified.
Additionally, Professor Nishihara, who spoke at this workshop, also visited a wheat cultivation field where rice straw biochar was actually applied. He had extensive discussions with the farmers who are cooperating in the field trials, as well as the local union leaders, regarding the application rates and methods of biochar in the future and the cooperative framework aimed at establishing a carbon credit system, making it a very meaningful time. In this region, under the guidance of LPU, the burning of rice straw has already been prohibited, and it is said that wheat sowing is being carried out after incorporating the rice straw into the soil, but there are challenges with the incorporation of rice straw using cultivators, and further improvements are needed.
The farmers who participated this time are very interested in the way of sustainable agriculture, and it seems that this workshop has been very valuable for them.
