Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday issued strict instructions to the Department of Agriculture to crack down on the sale of spurious pesticides and seeds to cotton farmers, directing them to ensure that only 33 approved varieties of seeds are sold at monitored prices to prevent loss of crop on this account.The Chief Minister instructed the officials to coordinate with neighbouring Haryana to ensure that the same quality seeds are available and sown in the region.Captain Amarinder also asked the Agriculture department officials to explore the possibility of tying up with an existing commodities exchange or set up their own exchange for future trading of commodities like potato and cotton to ensure guaranteed sale of these products and save the farmers from distress selling.Chairing a review meeting of the Department of Agriculture here, the Chief Minister said he would write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to seek deficiency price support from the Centre to compensate the farmers for the loss incurred as a result of the differential between the market price of Rs. 1100 and the government’s Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs. 1300 for maize. It may be noted that though the central government declares MSP for Maize, it does not directly buy the produce.
The meeting was attended, among others, by Finance Minister Manpreet Badal, Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh, FCD, VC Punjab Agriculture University (PAU) and Director Agriculture.Captain Amarinder expressed concern over the declining cotton yields in the state as a result of whitefly infections, and suggested to the PAU to explore possibilities of introducing better quality Egyptian and Australian cotton varieties to enhance the profitability of the farmers. Referring to cotton as the `white gold’ of southern Malwa region, he underlined the need to educate the farmers on the use of less insecticides/pesticides.The Chief Minister directed the officials to initiate a programme to ensure sale and application of only PAU-approved pesticides and recognized seeds. He also asked them to launch a campaign to rid cotton as well as other crops of whitefly, suggesting removal of weeds from the road side to check growth of whitefly. Captain Amarinder pointed out that the department would need to reach out to 1500 villages to educate the farmers and create awareness about the threat of whitefly. The PAU informed the meeting that the incidence of whitefly infection had come down, as per their February-March 2017 survey but work still remained to be done to eliminate the risk completely.
The process of controlling whitefly starts in a phased manner starts in March and continues till September.DCs would be appointed as nodal officers to coordinate the anti-whitefly efforts between the various departments such as Agriculture and PWD, the Mandi Board, the Panchayats, etc and monitor the campaign on a weekly basis, it was decided at the meeting, according to an official spokesperson.Captain Amarinder recalled that his government, during its previous tenure, had introduced BT cotton cultivation in the state but yields of the same to deteriorated in the subsequent years, under the previous regime. Manpreet told the meeting that the real challenge lay in popularizing cotton farming as, given a choice; the farmers prefer to stick to the familiar cycle of wheat and paddy cultivation.The department further briefed the meeting that it had sufficient quantities of seeds, pesticides and fertilizers for the coming crop season, for which the Chief Minister directed the Irrigation and Power Department to ensure regular supply of canal water and power supply from April 15.The issue of potato quality and storage was also discussed at the meeting.
The Chief Minister asked the PAU to explore potato varieties with less sugar content so that it can be used by multinational food chains. Noting that cold storage of potatoes continued to be a huge problem for the state, the meeting suggested creation of such facilities by Markfed, the Punjab Cooperative Department and the Punjab Mandi Board.Officials pointed out that the potato farmers had suffered massive losses due to demonetization as buyers from other states, who constitute the bulk of the purchasers, failed to come. Manpreet stressed the need to evolve better ways for marketing of potatoes and other perishable farm products. Establishing commodity exchanges for such projects was one of the suggestions, which the department has been asked to pursue.