Friday 17 June 2016

Government tries to help the farmers in Punjab

Farmers in Punjab are left with no choice than to grow Kharif crops this season due to the scare of white fly attack on cotton crops .The area under cotton cultivation in Bathinda has decreased comparatively from last year as farmers prefer Desi cotton to the BT cotton. As of last years extensive damage done to cotton crops by the white fly the government has asked the farmers to grow more paddy , growth of which is expected to go up by more than one lakh hectares from 29.75 lakh hectares as said by  a senior official of Punjab Agriculture Department. 

Earlier, Punjab had set a target of 28.50 lakh hectares of paddy. "The main reason behind rise in paddy will be the drop in acreage under cotton crop as farmers will divert that area towards rice," he further said.

Though the recent rain showers in Bathinda and Mansa districts have bought great relief to the farmers’ agony. Rain showers will not only lessen the whitefly attack but might end it entirely. The adverse condition of Khushwinder Singh of village Bhainibagha (Mansa) uprooted his cotton crop following the alleged whitefly attack as claimed by BKU Ugrahan leader Ram Singh Bhenibagha.
However, the agriculture department claimed that the matter has not come to their notice, and added that in the entire district, the whitefly attack which should be 6ET level is considerably low marking only 2ET level which is highly alarming for both the farmers and the Government.

After fortnightly discussions between the consultative and monitoring committees formed by the Chief Secretary on field visits, research work, exploring and sharing techniques regarding the control of pest attacks along with making the farmers aware about barrier crops in order to save cotton from whitefly attacks have been the top priority of the Punjab government.

On June 4 Chief Secretary Sarvesh Kaushal formed an interstate panel comprising of 10 members from the neighboring states of Haryana and Rajasthan to evaluate the pest attack and take the required measures.

Strong recommendations and amendments are being made by the Government in order to provide some relief to the farmers. Different kinds of seeds are recommended by the PAU and experts from the universities are asked to launch a concerted drive in the specific areas of Bathinda and Mansa so that the spread of white fly could be averted. Along with this, a persuasion campaign has been started amongst farmers to sow barrier crops, namely, maize, jowar and bajra to prevent the pest attack.In the wake of depleting underground water table, Punjab government had asked growers to start sowing paddy from June 15.

Meanwhile, power utility PSPCL said assured proper power supply to farmers. "We have sufficient power with us to ensure 8-hour supply to farmers starting tomorrow," a Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd official said.

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