Ambala farmers evince interest in govt’s water conservation scheme

Ambala, January 6

With the farmers started showing interest in the government backed Mera Pani Meri Virasat (MPMV), a crop diversification and water conservation scheme, over 6,200 acre land was covered under the scheme in the district in kharif season of 2023.

As per the Agriculture Department, against the target of 6,072 acres, over 6,273 acre area was covered under the scheme and the farmers who have been found eligible will get an incentive of Rs 7,000 per acre for switching to alternative crops from Paddy. Initially, registrations for 6,516 acres were received but during verification, the registration for nearly 243 acres were rejected. In the previous season, against the target of 5,041 acres, around 4,658 acre area was covered and the department had released an incentive of over Rs 3.26 crore to the eligible farmers. Deputy Director Agriculture (DDA), Ambala, Dr Jasvinder Singh said, “With the depletion of groundwater, it is important to shift from traditional paddy crop to diversified crops. The scheme has received a better response compared to previous years, and with 6,273 acres verified, the target has been achieved under the scheme. The verification has been completed and the farmers will get incentive of Rs 7,000 per acre.”

“The farmers in Ambala have shown a good interest in fodder and agroforestry crops. The floods and repeated rains caused trouble for farmers in several areas due to which a large number of farmers couldn’t shift to alternative crops. We are hopeful that more farmers will switch to alternative crops in coming years, and help the department is saving groundwater,” he added.

Meanwhile, the farmers said the government should provide MSP and high yield crop options if it wants to achieve better results. Tejveer Singh, spokesperson of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Shaheed Bhagat Singh) said, “The farmers are also concerned about the depleting groundwater but due to no guarantee of MSP of other crops and lower availability of good quality seeds, the farmers are reluctant to leave paddy.”