Punjab Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister S. Gurmeet Singh Khudian on Saturday urged Sh. Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union Agriculture Minister, to break the impasse and revive the dialogue between the Union Government and the agitating farmer unions at the earliest. Sh. Chouhan was holding the discussions on reforms in Agriculture sector with Agriculture and Horticulture Ministers of the states & UTs through video conference.
Expressing a deep sense of urgency and concern, S. Gurmeet Singh Khudian appealed the Union Cabinet Minister that S. Jagjeet Singh Dallewal's fast-unto-death has taken a critical turn. For 40 days, the latter has been sacrificing his health and well-being, and it is imperative that the Centre should take immediate action to address the grievances and save his life.
The Punjab Agriculture Minister reiterated that Chief Minister S. Bhagwant Singh Mann led Punjab Government supports the farmers’ legitimate demands and enthusiastic for working together with the Union Government to achieve a goal of prosperous agriculture. Raising another issue of great concern, he sought Rs.15,000 per acre for the farmers as gap funding for providing returns over the variable cost of alternative crops to wean away them from the water-guzzling paddy crop.
S. Khudian emphasised that since, the fast depleting underground water and climate change in the region are major cause of concerns and there is an emergent need to shift maximum area from paddy to another alternative crops viz. maize, cotton, kharif pulses and oilseed crops etc under crop diversification scheme so that farmers can get profit equal to paddy.
S. Gurmeet Singh Khudian also suggested that the Centre Government should come forward to hold the arm of the state farmers by offering financial assistance of Rs. 2500 per acre (Rs. 2000/acre by GOI & Rs. 500/acre by GoP) to the farmers for managing paddy straw scientifically as incorporation of paddy straw into soil entails an additional expenditure of about Rs. 3000-4000 per acre.
Although, the CRM machines have been provided to the farmers at subsidised rates, the additional cost associated with use of these machines is averting farmers to adopt such technologies. In addition to the subsidy on Crop Residue Management (CRM) machines for managing paddy straw, permission should also be granted to the state government to utilise the subsidy amount for various purposes such as CBG plant, Biofuel plant, palletisation units etc., he proposed.
S. Gurmeet Singh Khudian also sought go ahead for the cultivation of BG 3 hybrid seeds, which are pink bollworm and whitefly resistant, in the state as over a few years, pest attacks have made havoc amongst the farmers. Apart from this, subsidy should be given under centrally sponsored schemes on improved cotton hybrid seeds to revive cotton production in the state.
The high-level meeting was attended by Additional Chief Secretary Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Mr. Anurag. Verma, Director Agriculture Mr. Jaswant Singh and other senior officials of the department.