Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today asked the Government of India (GoI) to ensure the economic security and prosperity of Punjab farmers who played a pivotal role in securing national food security at the cost of the natural resources in terms of depleting soil fertility and declining water table. Addressing a high level meeting with the officers of the Central team led by Secretary Agriculture Ashish Bahuguna, the Chief Minister said that GoI should come forward to bail out its beleaguered peasantry in this hour of crisis by incentivizing the promotion of the cultivation of alternative crops to paddy and wheat adding that this was not merely a problem of Punjab but must be viewed in a broad perspective as ‘national problem’. Badal highly appreciated the enomorous contribution of the state farmers in making our country self-reliant in food grain production adding he said, “Now it is the payback time for Centre government to help our farmers at this crucial juncture in recognition with their superb performance in the National Food Security”.Expressing gratitude to the Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar for deputing a high level Central team for detailed deliberations to chalk out an action program on the crop persification with the state officers, the Chief Minister requested him to immediately constitute a high level joint committee comprising senior officers of the Central and state government for preparing a roadmap for persification of Agriculture in the state.
Badal emphasized the need to immediately launch a technology mission for 'persification of Agriculture in Green Revolution Areas' with an allocation of Rs 5000 crore for 12th Five Year Plan period, on the pattern of the mission for 'Bringing Green Revolution to the Eastern India' (BGREI). Badal underscored the need for persification away from the production of food crops mainly Rice, which was utmost necessary to sustainably manage the natural resource base and to adjust to the changes taking place in the domestic demand and supply of food grains.It may be recalled that of late the eastern states like Chattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Assam have made their presence felt in the production of wheat and paddy, which had also compelled the state to persify to other alternatives due to Centre's purported move to review the present system of Open ended purchase of food grains at MSP. Outlining the persification program, the Chief Minister apprised the visiting team that the state government has planned to reduce the area under paddy from 28 to 16 lakh hectares in a phased manner over a period of six years. It is purposed to shift this area to Maize (four lakh hectare), Cotton (two lakh hectare), Sugarcane (1.5 lakh hectare), Fodder (1.5 lakh hectare), Agro Forestry (two lakh hectare), Pulses and Fruits & Vegetable (one lakh hectare).
The Chief Minister impressed upon the Centre to provide remunerative MSP coupled with assured marketing mechanism for the alternate crops especially Maize as the Punjab Government was seriously contemplating to enhance the present area under Maize cultivation from 1.5 to 5.5 lakh hectare. Mr Badal also asked the GoI to relook the policy of blending of petrol with ethanol by increasing it from 5% to 15% to promote conversion of Maize into ethanol. Badal also envisaged special assistance from GoI for installation of maize dryers in designated markets He also urged the Union Government to expedite the shifting of Directorate of Maize Research from Delhi to Ladhowal (Ludhiana) besides making the Borlaug Institute for South Asia functional at the earliest so as to develop Ludhiana as a hub for Maize breeding. Mr Badal also asked the Ministry of Food Processing to incentivize the setting up of Maize processing industry in the state to encourage its value addition and assured marketing support. Urging the Central team to take immediate steps to boost the procurement of the cotton in state thereby encouraging persification, the Chief Minister said that Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) should be asked to carry-out timely price support operations aggressively in all the 45 cotton markets across the state. He also demanded that a Regional Centre of Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) for research in Pulses and Soyabeen should be established in the state to develop suitable varieties of these crops for cultivation in the state. Likewise, Mr Badal also asked the centre to expeditiously set up a Centre of Excellence for Citrus at Abohar as the state government was planning to enhance the area under Citrus Orchards. To encouarage Agro-forestry, the Chief Minister asked for providing long term bank finance through NABARD (on soft loans or concessional rates basis to farmers) besides incentivizing establishments of hi-tech wood industry.Reiterating that persification to livestock sector was necessary to supplement the income of the farmers, the Chief Minister posed a program to be funded by the Central government for the promotion of Dairy, piggery, Goatry and fisheries. Badal also urged the Centre to declare Animal Husbandry Livestock activities like dairy, piggery, poultry, goatry and fishery etc. at par with the Agriculture so that the benefits like exemption of Income tax, interest rates etc. available to agriculture can also be extended to these activities. He also pointed out that the facilities of Kisan Credit Cards, presently available shoud be extended to dairy, piggery, pultry and fishery. He also demanded to provide subsidized insurance cover to livestock irrespective of the size of the herd besides establishment of Livestock quarantine station at Amritsar.Responding to the issues raised by the Chief Minister on the state persification plan, Bahuguna appreciated the concerted efforts of the state government to implement the ambitious persification plan to shift an area of 12 lakh hectares from paddy to other crops. He assured all possible assistance and co-operation on behalf of the GoI to make this mission a huge success. Bahuguna also lauded the initiative of the state government to amend Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMC) Act 1961 and to enact a new legislation on Contract Farming, which would be instrumental in providing forward linkages to the farmers to markets and industries. Mr Bahuguna announced to cover Amritsar for development of peri-urban cultivation of vegetables under National Vegetable Initiative for Urban Clusters (NVIUC). The Union Agriculture Secretary also assured to include Goatry and Piggery for assistance under the National Mission for Protein Supplement. He also apprised the Chief Minister that he would soon take up the matter with his counterpart in Ministry of Textiles for opening more textile parks in Punjab to give an impetus to the processing of raw cotton in the state.
The prominent members of the Central Team included Joint Secretary Crops Mukesh Khullar, Joint Secretary Food Processing Industries JP Meena, Joint Secretary National Horticulture Mission Sanjeev Chopra, Commissioner Animal Husbandry AS Nanda, MD Nafed Rajeev Gupta and Director National Centre for Agriculture Research and Policy Dr Ramesh Chander.
The state was represented by Cabinet Minister Sarwan Singh Phillaur, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Gubachan Singh Babbehali, Chairman Punjab Farmer's Commission Dr GS Kalkat, Financial Commissioner Development GS Sandhu, Financial Commissioner Animal Husbandry Jagpal Singh Sandhu, Secretary Food Processing DS Grewal, Special Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Gaggandip Singh Brar, Vice Chancellor GADVASU Dr VK Taneja, Advisor Agriculture and MD Milkfed Dr Balwinder Singh Sidhu, MD Punjab Agro KDS Bhullar, Secretary Mandi Board MS Kainth and Director Agriculture Dr Mangal Singh Sandhu.