Apply for machines till Oct 20: Agriculture Dept

Amritsar, October 12

The district Agriculture Department has asked the farmers to apply for the machinery required for alternative management of crop residue after the Centre has extended the date for it to October 20. The government is supplying machines on 50 per cent subsidy to individual farmers and on 80 per cent to farmer groups.

Agriculture engineer Ranbir Singh Randhawa said the date had been extended so that more farmers could be encouraged to use these machines instead of burning the crop residue. He said many farmers in district had already benefited from the scheme in last two years.

“The demonstrations in fields have shown that crop residue can be ploughed back into the soil which increases the nutritional value and helps in decreasing input cost on fertilisers,” he said adding that farmer desiring to purchase the machines should get in touch with the department. — TNS