Seh/Naulari (Samrala), May 15
Sunflower cultivation, which was given up by Punjab farmers on account of loss suffered in the absence of marketing infrastructure in the past, has got a new lease of life following its revival through contract farming by the Punjab Agro Foods Corporation (PAFC).
It was heartening to see vast fields of the standing crop in the Samrala subdivision today during a field visit by farmers. PAFC experts took farmers to Seh and Naulari villages in the block where they were told that the area under sunflower cultivation had almost doubled than the previous year. PAFC has not only been declared as a nodal agency for contract farming by the state government but also as a nodal agency by Nafed to procure oil seeds and pulses grown under contract farming at the MSP declared by the Centre.
Mr Mukhtiar Singh of Seh, who has sown nine acres of sunflower, informed the group of farmers that the crop is much better this year and is fully pest free as he has followed the spray schedule given by the experts from time to time. Similar views were expressed by Mr Saudagar Singh and Mr Guljar Singh of the same village, who together have cultivated 32 acres under the contract programme.
The experts observed that the seed setting was full and the seeds were plump, indicative of a bumper yield. They are expecting 10 to 12 quintal yield per acre this time which is about two to three quintals more than that in the previous years.
Later, the team visited Naulari village along with officials from the Agriculture Department. The officers pointed out that the crop stands and the flowering and flower size is uniform — indicative of a good harvest.
Farmers Gurpal Singh, Bagh Singh, Harpal Singh, Rachpal Singh and Avtar Singh of the village, who had brought 10 to 20 acres each under sunflower cultivation this time are happy about the profits they will pocket. They said they would bring more area under other crops in future.
Mr N.K. Sharma, Senior Manager, PAFC, Ludhiana, informed that more awareness camps would be organised in Khanna and Samrala blocks for sunflower and maize cultivation. Farmers will be specifically educated to go in for contract farming of edible oils and pulses. The farmers are now keen to switching over to sunflower and summer moong in face of the assured marketing by government agencies. Companies like Amrit Vanaspati and others had already shown interest in the procurement of sunflower, he said.
Dr Tarlok Singh Sahota, an expert, informed the gathering that this time the area under sunflower is around 15, 000 acres in Punjab out of which 3, 000 acres are in Ludhiana district alone. He further explained that since sunflower oil has low percentage of saturated fatty acid, so it is very good for humans besides having a good export potential.
He advised the farmers to go in for three-crop rotation like sunflower-maize-potato and sunflower-maize-early peas, by which they can have better returns ranging from Rs 7,000 to Rs 9,000 per acre as compared to the wheat-paddy monoculture.
The experts pointed out that the cultivation of sunflower had fell due to the lack of availability of pure hybrid seed, insect/pest problem — specially that of American Bollworm, distress sale of sunflower produce much below the MSP because of lack of fully operational nodal agency for procurement.
PAFC first initiated for the solution to all the problems before venturing into contact farming of sunflower. It tied up with top firms for supplying quality hybrid seeds and the farmers were also advised about appropriate pesticide spray schedule and by assuring buy-back of produce at pre-determined prices, plus market-linked bonus.
Accompanying the team were officers of the Department of Agriculture — Ashok Chand and Gurmeet Singh. Farmer Buta Singh from Urna village and Mr Rai Singh from Hariou village also shared their experiences/achievements with the farmers of the two villages.
