Pilot project to cultivate residue-free basmati in Amritsar: Minister
To promote organic farming in the state, the Punjab government has undertaken a pilot project under which residue-free basmati with minimal or no usage of chemicals has been cultivated in Chogawan block of Amritsar district.
To promote organic farming in the state, the Punjab government has undertaken a pilot project under which residue-free basmati with minimal or no usage of chemicals has been cultivated in Chogawan block of Amritsar district.
Agriculture minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian on Sunday said that they have purposely chosen Chogawan block for the pilot project as the area falls in the basin of the Ravi river and has favourable climatic conditions to nurture the most aromatic long grain basmati rice making it export quality produce.
According to Khudian, an awareness campaign has been launched to sensitise farmers about the judicious use of pesticides for basmati crop, besides making them aware regarding the use of alternative pesticides rather than banned pesticides. As many as 10 insecticides/fungicides have been banned for application on basmati crop, he added.
The Chogawan block has a total of 32,000 hectares of cultivated area, of which 25,000 hectares are under the basmati crop. Out of the total 102 villages, 42 villages of the block have been selected under the project, he said.
Meanwhile, the main cultivated varieties in the block are PUSA basmati 1718, PUSA basmati 1121, PUSA basmati 1885, PUSA basmati 1509, PUSA basmati 1692 and Punjab basmati 7.
As many as 3,691 farmers have been shortlisted after the door-to-door survey conducted by the agriculture department. Over 54 village level camps have been organised to sensitise farmers about banned pesticides. As many as 38 kisan mitras, three supervisors and eight field supervisors are regularly visiting the field and sensitising farmers to yield export quality basmati.
