In a bid to promote crop persification program across the state, the Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal today announced to provide maize seed at 75% subsidy to the farmers in the remaining 12 districts during the next kharif season-2014.Disclosing this here today a spokesperson of the chief minister’s office said that Mr. Badal also directed the agriculture department to ensure the installation of two community maize dryers at Nawanshehar and Saila Khurd (Hoshiarpur) at a cost of Rs.16 crore before the procurement of maize during the current kharif season. This step would enable the farmers to ensure better remunerative price of the maize crop in the mandis because dried maize fetched better returns as compared to maize with moisture content. The chief minister also gave directions to the agriculture department to install maize dyers in all the dedicated mandis at a cost of Rs.150 crore before the commencement of procurement during next kharif season in a phased manner adding he said that the maize growers would also be given subsidy of 50% on the purchase of portable maize dryers.
The spokesperson further said that the financial commissioner development had already convened a joint meeting of managing directors of Milkfed and Markfed to immediately to initiate the process for setting up of cattle feed units at Nawanshehar and Hoshiarpur at the cost of Rs.10 crore so as to ensure assured marketing support to the farmers producing maize in the region.Highlighting the position regarding the supply of subsidized hybrid maize seed under PPP mode to the farmers, the spokesperson informed that 362 MT of maize seed of Pioneer-P 3396 and Shree Ram TX 369 has been supplied to the farmers in the ten districts namely Barnala, Fatehgarh Sahib, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Ludhiana, Moga, Mohali, Patiala, Ropar and Sangrur under the pilot project for the promotion of maize crop and had been sown over an area of 18,040 hectare in these districts. As per information supplied by the district chief agriculture officers, Jalandhar tops in maize sowing followed by Mohali under PPP mode. The state government has now decided to replicate this model in the remaining 12 districts so as to shift the major chunk of area under paddy as an alternate crop in order to give much needed impetus to the agriculture persification program. The chief minister also categorically asked the directorate of agriculture to ensure the supply of only that seed which was compatible with the climatic conditions and soil texture in the particular area. It may be recalled that maize had been so far sown under PPP mode and traditional area of 1,44,352 hectare during the current kharif season against the last years area of 1,29,000 hectare.