: Agriculture minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal on Monday constituted 37 departmental teams to inspect and report the condition of the cotton crop in six districts of Malwa under threat of pink locust pest.
He instructed the officers to deal with the possible infestation of the pest on the cotton crop in the vulnerable Malwa belt from tomorrow. The minister, in the meeting held at Mohali’s Mandi Board headquarter, announced that he would also visit the affected parts.
Dhaliwal, who assumed the charge of the department last week, said marketing would be strengthened to make crop diversification a success and bail out the farmers out of the wheat-paddy cycle.
He said that emphasis would be laid on the marketing of these crops to promote maize and other allied crops like corn.
He also asked the officers to check sale of fake pesticides, fertilizers and seeds and take strict action against those selling such products.
Dhaliwal said that direct sowing of paddy was being encouraged by the Punjab government and to achieve this goal, the agriculture authorities should promote this scheme as much as possible and ensure access to small farmers, adding that adding that the state government agencies such Mandi board, Punjab Agro, PUNSEED, warehouse would be strengthened. ENDS
{{/usCountry}}Dhaliwal said that direct sowing of paddy was being encouraged by the Punjab government and to achieve this goal, the agriculture authorities should promote this scheme as much as possible and ensure access to small farmers, adding that adding that the state government agencies such Mandi board, Punjab Agro, PUNSEED, warehouse would be strengthened. ENDS
{{/usCountry}}