Two years of AAP govt in Punjab: Dip in farm fires, diversification still remains a challenge
In the past two years, several meetings have been held between chief minister Bhagwant Mann and farm bodies’ representatives for discussions on peasantry demands but have failed to bring out a positive outcome.
The two years of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) regime in Punjab have been challenging as far as the agriculture sector is concerned. As farm organisations continue to press for their demands sitting at Khanauri and Shambu borders along Haryana, seeking MSP on all crops as a legal guarantee, assured procurement of the crops and debt waiver, the AAP government, entering its third year, has a task in hand to quell the peasantry discontent.
In the past two years, several meetings have been held between chief minister Bhagwant Mann and farm bodies’ representatives for discussions on peasantry demands but have failed to bring out a positive outcome.
At the start of its second year at the helm, the state government faced an uphill task of controlling stubble fires. Though the government managed to bring down the numbers in the 2023 kharif season by 26%, as compared to the previous season of 2022, the area under farm fires increased by 25%.
This year the state government has started preparations in advance for the 2024 kharif and has set a target of spending ₹500 crore on subsidy to the farmers for purchasing machines for crop residue management.
On assuming power, the AAP government had sought ₹2,500 per acre bonus to the paddy growers for crop residue management by involving the Union government and AAP-run government in Delhi but the proposal was turned down by the Centre.
Ahead of the 2022 polls, AAP had publicly backed the procurement of 22 crops at MSP and promised that the government would sanction the purchase after they assumed power. The agriculture policy is still awaited as the state farmers’ commission is still finalising it.
In the budget announcement for the financial year 2024-25, the state government last week announced an allocation of ₹13,784 crore for the agriculture and allied sectors, which is nearly on par with the allocation in the previous budget.
A sum of ₹13,888 crore was allocated for the sector in the current financial year 2023-24, which was 20% more than that of the previous year. Out of the total allocation, a major chunk of 67% ( ₹9,330 crore) has been kept reserved for the free power to the tubewells.
In 2022, there were two subsequent cotton crop failures due to pest attacks and in 2023, the area under the crop came down to 1.75 lakh hectares, a record dip in the past 13 years. The government has tried to mitigate the shrinking area under this cash crop by offering a 33% seed subsidy to cotton growers and was also able to take canal water for irrigation purposes to the tail ends in the far-flung Fazilka and Abohar belt.
Floods during the onset of monsoon in 2023 also caused widespread damage to paddy. Due to the fall in area under cotton and moong dal, the diversification plan of the government suffered a setback. In the current season, kinnow growers suffered losses as the fruit was sold below the sustainable price. The fall in prices was caused by bumper citrus production.
“We have several challenges facing the agrarian sector, and we have overcome many. Despite the natural calamity, we managed a good paddy yield. We compensated farmers for loss to the paddy crop and provided subsidized seed and saplings,” said KAP Singh special chief secretary Agriculture. He adds government managed a timely supply of fertilizer and was also able to reduce stubble-burning incidents in 2023 by a sizeable 26%.