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Chandigarh: The Punjab government is preparing to upgrade the farmers of the state by taking them out of paddy and wheat cultivation through crop diversification scheme. Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said that till now there has been only talk for the upliftment of farmers but his government believes in implementing it. He kept an allocation of Rs 13,784 crore for agriculture and allied sectors.
A provision of Rs 9330 crore has been made
The government will spend Rs 575 crore on 'crop diversification schemes' to bring hardworking farmers into crop diversification. It is our collective responsibility to improve our agriculture, our soil health, our falling water table and the AAP government will focus on such schemes in the future.
Rs 50 crore has been made available for the project
Improvement in agriculture through agricultural diversification without value addition will not yield the desired results, hence Pagrexco has already been provided Rs 50 crore to start the project in the current year. Showing commitment towards the farmers, the Finance Minister said that the electricity subsidy given to the farmers will continue and a provision of Rs 9,330 crore has been made for this.
87 thousand farmers will get 33 percent subsidy on cotton crop.
Finance Minister has announced Punjab Horticulture Development and Sustainable Enterprise to enhance quality in horticulture sector. It will provide schemes for mushroom cultivation, production of flower seeds, development of fruit and vegetable gardens. The government has launched a special 'Mission Unat Kisan' to provide technical information to farmers cultivating Narma rice. The government will also provide 33 percent subsidy on cotton seeds to about 87,000 farmers.
Mandis will be linked to rice mills online
Punjab government has started linking the mandis with rice mills online to stop paddy being sold in the mandis from outside. The portal has been integrated with Powercom for procurement of grains. It aims to monitor power consumption of rice mills to prevent fraud and recycling of PDS rice. An amount of Rs 1072 crore has been proposed under various schemes in the department in the financial year 2024-25.
Straw-fired co-generation plant started
To make proper use of stubble, the government has started a 14 MW co-generation plant from stubble at Bhogpur Cooperative Sugar Mill. Apart from this, a new ethanol plant is likely to start soon in Gurdaspur Cooperative Sugar Mill. For which an initial budget support of Rs 24 crore has been given. 13016 hectare area will be brought under micro irrigation and underground pipes will be laid for ground water conservation. Rs 194 crore has been made available. This project will be started with the help of NABARD.
One River, One Fisheries Program
The government has also proposed to launch One River One Fish Farming program to encourage fish farmers. The Finance Minister said that under this scheme, a new fish farming farm will be built in village Kanyanwali of Fazilka district. There is a plan to take 3233 acres area under fisheries.