Chandigarh, May 8, 2020 (Yes Punjab News)
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal today requested chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh to introduce an incentive linked crop diversification plan on the pattern of Haryana by announcing an incentive of Rs 10,000 per acre to all farmers switching from paddy to other alternate crops, including maize.
In a statement here, the SAD President also asked the chief minister to announce that maize would be procured at MSP by the State as had been done by the Haryana government to make the diversification scheme a success. He said both steps were urgently needed to address the issue of likely shortage of labour during paddy transplantation as well as to tackle ground water depletion.
He said the government should target over exploited blocks to increase the water table at such places. He said he was confident farmers in areas where paddy was not grown traditionally, including Kandi areas, could also take up the scheme if offered to them. He also appreciated the Haryana government for coming out with a pro-farmer scheme much before the beginning of paddy transplantation.
Meanwhile Mr Sukhbir Badal expressed serious concern that the Punjab government had not taken up his suggestion to prepone the paddy transplantation session to June 1 for discussion with farmers and due implementation.
He said preponing the transplantation season would have dual advantages. “While it will ensure staggered transplantation with labour available in Punjab, it will also encourage migrant labour to stay back because work on preparing paddy nurseries will start immediately”.
Mr Badal also asked the chief minister to intervene and assure farmers that there would not be any problem in procurement of PUSA 44 paddy variety if sown by them. He said PAU, Ludhiana had removed it from its list of recommended varieties and farmers feared it would not be procured by State agencies because it took an extra 20 days to mature.
He said due to this with the onset of winter the moisture content of this variety increased. The SAD President said the variety could be sown easily if the transplantation season was preponed and that it was much needed due to its high yield record. “Moreover farmers have purchased PUSA 44 seed worth crores”, he added.
The SAD President also asked the chief minister to take urgent steps to increase the strength of paddy transplantation machines as well as direct sowing machines in the State to increase mechanisation so that labour shortage could be offset to some extent. He said farmers willing to purchase paddy transplanters should be given a 75 per cent subsidy. He said the government should also purchase transplanters and give them to Cooperative Societies so that farmers could make use of them.
Mr Badal said it was unfortunate that nothing had been done to mitigate the suffering of vegetable farmers who were the worst sufferers during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. He said besides giving direct compensation to them, the government should immediately raise milk procurement prices to offset the losses faced by dairy farmers due to increased input costs.
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