CM should ensure hassle-free buying of recommended variety: Paddy farmers

Failure of the government to ensure procurement of recommended variety of paddy during the past years, poor execution of orders regarding cultivation, purchase of prohibited varieties in the state and lack of vision on research and development in agriculture have been cited as major reasons behind the alleged chaos observed during paddy cycle in the state.

Paddy cultivators intending to support the government’s programme for conservation of water have urged the Punjab Government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann to ensure that crops of varieties recommended by the scientists are purchased without harassment on the pretext of percentage of broken grains and other parameters.

Farmers led by All-India Kisan Sabha state leader Baldev Singh Latala argued that most of the paddy cultivators were tempted to violate the ban imposed on cultivation of Pusa-44 variety, keeping in view the short-term benefits of higher yield and direct purchase by rice millers and private traders.

“Having suffered monetary losses due to exploitation on pretext of broken rice and other nutrient parameters, farmers have started caring two hoots for prohibitory orders,” said Lalata, alleging that farmers had to forgo payment of huge quantities for getting their crops purchased during past procurement seasons.

Farmers admitted that they had decided to transplant saplings of banned varieties by purchasing it on a premium as commission agents and private traders had assured that the produce would be purchased promptly before the onset of paddy procurement season.

Harjinder Singh Samra of Chhanna village regretted that the government had failed to sensitise paddy cultivators on the issue of preventing further fall in the water table before implementing a ban on Pusa-44, which takes more time to mature and guzzles more water. Samra argued that the administration’s alleged non-seriousness about implementing the ban was also responsible for the chaos.

“As most of the cultivators are worried about increasing their profitability to compensate losses incurred due to natural calamities during past years, cultivating high-yield varieties can’t be ruled out when the agencies imposing bans are liberal,” said Samra.

Farmers urged the government to ensure that interests of paddy growers cultivating recommended varieties were watched and the ban, if any, was imposed strictly.

The Punjab Government had banned the sale, storage and cultivation of long-maturing rice varieties, including Pusa-44 and other hybrid varieties, following recommendations of the Punjab Agricultural University. The ban is aimed to prevent problems during marketing and check further depletion of groundwater level.