Crop diversification: Punjab to target 3 lakh hectares for
The farmers opting for alternate crops like maize this kharif season will be given an incentive of ₹17,500 per hectare
Punjab agriculture department is contemplating covering 3 lakh hectares under its crop diversification plan (CDP), asking the paddy growers to shift to an alternative crop like maize, in the current kharif season. The growers are being offered an incentive of ₹17,500 per hectare (or ₹7,000 per acre).
Out of the total 30 lakh hectares, paddy, including the aromatic premium variety basmati, has been sown on 27 lakh hectares and the rest is waiting to be cultivated. It is this remaining land waiting to be cultivated that the state government will look to target under its CDP plan for this season. This comes after the Centre agreed to bring it under the federal crop diversification programme following a meeting between Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his Punjab counterpart Gurmeet Singh Khudian in the national capital.
“The department will ask farmers to cultivate maize over the remaining area to help the CDP,” said special chief secretary KAP Sinha, who heads the agriculture department.
The department will compare the J-forms of the farmers claiming incentives after the crop is sold at the end of the season, he added, informing the system of offering incentives.
The directorate plans to approach the farmers to shift to alternative crops, and it is expected that the scheme will be rolled out full-fledged in the next kharif season, he further added.
For a long time, the Punjab government has been seeking the Centre’s support to help farmers shift to alternative crops. The sanctioned funds could offer incentives for about 1.65 lakh hectares.
The water-guzzling paddy crop consumes 3,367 litres (as per the figures from the commission for agricultural costs and prices- CACP), and this has led to an acute fall in the subsoil water levels, turning 142 out of 165 blocks in state dark zones where the average fall in the water table is one metre per year.
The outlay for this year’s centrally-sponsored grant will be ₹289 crore. Out of which, the Centre will contribute 60% ( ₹173 crore) and the remaining 40% will be the state’s share.
The officials in the know of things in the agriculture department said that the CDP funds are demand-driven and if needed more funds would be sanctioned.
“The scheme should have been launched earlier. The delay can be attributed to the model code of conduct which ended on June 6. Serious discussions on the matter could be held only after that,” the official of the state department added, pleading anonymity.
He further said that the state government sought a 100% grant to push crop diversification, but the Centre is still to agree to it.
Joginder Singh Ughrahan, head of a faction of Bhartiya Kisan Union, termed the incentive too meagre. Seeking an increase in incentives, Ughrahan demanded that the state government should bring out an agriculture policy on which it has been working for the past two years.
State seeks funds for CRM
The state government, according to special chief secretary Sinha has also sought a 100% grant from the Centre for crop residue management (CRM) which entails in-situ and ex-situ management of paddy stubble.
From 2018 to 2022, the Centre has given a total of ₹1,170 crore for paddy stubble management as a 100% grant but it changed the pattern from 2023 onwards and the states were asked to contribute 40% of the outlay.
This year the total outlay for CRM is ₹500 crore of which the state’s share will come to ₹200 crore (40%).