Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has announced that its Digital Kheti Mela, a farmer-outreach fair built around the theme “Empowering Farming Through Digital Innovation,” will return to the Ludhiana campus on September 18. The event is expected to draw growers from across the district, including the Jagraon subdivision, one of the region's most intensive paddy- and wheat-farming belts.
University scientists will demonstrate mobile apps, satellite-based advisories, and digital tools meant to help farmers cut input costs, time pesticide and fertiliser use more precisely, and reduce reliance on practices such as stubble burning that damage air quality across the Malwa region every autumn. The mela follows PAU's recent push to widen its outreach, including an English-language edition of its farm advisory publication Kheti Sandesh for growers and diaspora readers who prefer English over Punjabi.
For Jagraon's farming families, many of whom send sons and daughters abroad while older generations continue working the land, the mela offers a rare chance to bring globally-minded digital tools back to local fields. Gurdwara-linked kisan sabhas in the area have said they will help organise transport for smaller farmers who want to attend, continuing the community's tradition of collective seva around agriculture.
Source: The Tribune, Ludhiana city page (tribuneindia.com/news/city/ludhiana), report from the week of September 1–7, 2026.
