Bhagwant Mann Works For Punjab Farmers: At a time when the Central Government is finding it difficult to reach a consensus with farmers, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has continued to take revolutionary steps to hike farmers' income in the state. The Bhagwant Mann government is taking major steps to make horticulture a profitable enterprise and to increase the income of farmers along with crop diversification. Under this, the horticulture and food processing sector is being promoted.
This will open the way for employment for the youth. Along with this, the government is also making continuous efforts to save groundwater. To promote horticulture, the Punjab government has allocated Rs 253 crore in the budget for the financial year 2023-24 and work has been started towards setting up 25 horticulture estates in 5 districts in the state. In the first phase, the government has approved horticulture estates in districts Ludhiana, Faridkot, Patiala, Bastar, and Gurdaspur. Out of these, a budget has been given for three horticulture estates only by the Punjab government. The Punjab government has made all these estates horticulture estates, due to which the income of the farmers of Punjab is increasing continuously.
Efforts to double the horticulture sector and help farmers of Punjab by the Mann Government
The Punjab government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann is doing remarkable work to increase the income of farmers in the state and ensure crop diversity. To implement the schemes, every possible effort is being made to bring double the area of the state under horticulture through the Centres of Excellence that is being run by the Horticulture Department. Projects worth Rs 2500 crore have been sanctioned under the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund Scheme created for commercial projects related to horticulture.
Apart from providing financial assistance to flower growers, assistance is being given at the rate of Rs 35,000 per hectare for only 2.5 acres of land to increase seed production, meet the shortage of storage labour, sowing seeds, and harvest the crop.
4 vegetables potato, capsicum, tomato, and cabbage are being covered under a differential payment scheme so that farmers can get fair prices for their produce.
Incubation Centres for Horticulture
Disease-free, high-quality plants are prepared in these estates to promote horticulture. Incubation Centres and Custom Hiring Centres have also been established under these estates. Incubation Centres under Horticulture Estates include machinery like tractors, rotavators, spray pumps, powder feeders, filters, cultivators, water tankers, trolleys, fertilizer spreaders, levelers, loaders, diggers, etc. Machinery along with machine operators are made available to member farmers on reasonable rent. 86 lakh liters of water will be saved per acre
According to the experts, there is a plan to bring more and more farmers under horticultural crops by taking them out of the wheat and paddy crop cycle. In Punjab, about 40 lakh and 64 lakh liters of water per acre are used to grow wheat and paddy crops, while only 17 lakh liters of water per acre is used to grow horticultural crops. In this way, 86 lakh liters of water per acre is sure to be saved.