Goodyear India has partnered with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), to support farmers in Barnala, Punjab, to mitigate crop residue burning, a significant aggravator of air pollution. This initiative, as a part of Goodyear India’s annual CSR initiative, aims at making tools accessible and upskilling farmers to adopt climate-friendly and cleaner agriculture practices.
Under this initiative, Goodyear India has donated farm equipment and with CII’s support will mobilize villagers via volunteers to conduct behavioral change campaigns. These campaigns will aim to improve awareness through activities including wall painting, creating farmer user groups as well as providing technical guidance to farmers to reduce stubble burning.
The inauguration ceremony of the initiative was held at Bhaini Mehraj village in Barnala along with the support of the District Administration of Barnala. The initiative was launched in the presence of Ms Lovejeet Kalsi, ADC, Barnala, Dr Rajesh Kumar Raheja, Cane Commissioner, Punjab, Dr Varinder Kumar, Chief Agriculture Officer, Barnala, Mr. Anuj Thakkar - VP Farm & Commercial, Goodyear India, Ms Seema Arora, CEO of CII Foundation along with scientists from Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), the farmers in Barnala and other eminent dignitaries.
CII and Goodyear are supporting farmers in 15 villages in Barnala covering 40,000 acres of farmland through a range of interventions such as training, providing machinery and technical support to farmers, and facilitating the adoption of viable environment-friendly alternatives to stubble burning. Farmers welcomed this noble initiative wholeheartedly and have vowed to collectively work to solve the stubble-burning problem in the villages.
