In a bid to fund its agriculture persification program across the state, the Punjab government has chalked out a blue print for the implementation of various schemes and projects at a cost of nearly Rs.217 crore under the Rashtriya Krishi Vigyan Yojana (RKVY). A decision to this effect to was taken by the Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal in a meeting here at Chief Minister Residence with the senior functionaries of the Agriculture, Soil conservation, Animal Husbandry, Dairy, Fisheries and Horticulture departments, this morning.
The Chief Minister asked these departments to chalk out a detailed strategy to ensure supply of agriculture inputs through primary agriculture societies not only to its members but also to the farmers based in the villages. He constituted a committee under the Chairmanship of Financial Commissioner Development (FCD) with Director Agriculture and MD Markfed as its members to find out ways and means for purchase of fertilizers, insecticides, pesticides etc. directly from the companies and make it available to the farmers at affordable rates.
In the meeting Mr. Badal also approved to constitute a committee headed by Chairman Punjab Farmer’s Commission including Financial Commissioner Development and Vice Chancellor Punjab Agricultural University to identify high yielding varieties of Maize initially to be sown over an area of 50,000 hectares under the much needed crop persification program. Mr. Badal also impressed upon the need to set up Farmers’ Training Schools at district headquarters for effective implementation of the persification program besides a state-of-the-art water management center would also be set up to explore all the possibilities of ground water conservation as well as modern techniques to get maximum yield of crops with less water intake.
The Chief Minister underlined the need to give adequate Financial assistance to the GADVASU and PAU Ludhiana to take off state’s ambitious persification program through extensive research and development of new varieties of disease resistant seeds to have bumper crop. He also asked the top brass of the Agriculture, Soil conservation, Animal Husbandry, Dairy, Fisheries and Horticulture departments to evolve a multi pronged strategy to have better synergy amongst these departments for the promotion of allied farming in a big way, which was the only way to bail out the beleaguered farming community from the rut of conventional crops.
Mr. Badal pleaded for the cultivation of Maize, sugarcane, oilseeds, pulses, cotton, fruits and vegetables on a high scale to give impetus to the persification plan on one hand and ensure remunerative prices to them on the other thereby to put the sagging agrarian economy on a strong platter. It may be recalled that the state government had already posed a comprehensive persification plan to the GoI and it was expected that the centre was likely to sanction Rs 209 crore to fund this ambitious project.
In order to provide the best veterinary services to the Dairy farmers the Chief Minister asked the Financial Commissioner Animal Husbandry to prepare a time bound action plan for ensuring atleast a veterinary hospital in each block. He also underscored the need for strengthening the existing infra structure in the veterinary hospitals besides sanctioning requisite veterinary and para- medical staff in the veterinary polyclinics across the state.
Prominent amongst others who were present in the meeting including Chairman Punjab Farmers’ Commission Mr. GS Kalkat, Financial Commissioner Development Mr. Suresh Kumar, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Mr. SK Sandhu, Principal Secretary Animal Husbandry Mr. G. Vajralingam, Special Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Mr. Gaggandip Singh Brar, Adviser to FCD Dr. Balwinder Singh Sidhu, Director Agriculture Mr. Mangal Singh, Director Horticulture Dr. Lajwinder Singh Brar, Director Dairies Mr. Inderjit Singh, Director Fisheries Mr. BK Sood.