Will ensure farmers earn profit from stubble: Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema

Tribune News Service

Patiala, September 16

Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Friday asked farmers to shun stubble burning, saying the government will ensure farmers earn profit from paddy straw.

Cheema said the Punjab Government had made arrangements well in advance to remove the paddy stubble from the fields for its use in the boilers. Besides, the government would offer other incentives to the farmers to check stubble burning.

The Finance Minister was here to inaugurate the Kisan Mela organised by Punjab Agricultural University at Rauni Krishi Science Center. The theme of the Kisan Mela is ‘Save Farmers, Youth, Air and Water; Let’s make Rangla Punjab’.

After visiting various stalls and exhibitions at Kisan Mela, the Finance Minister appealed to the farmers visiting the fair to encourage others to come and take advantage of the knowledge being shared here.

Expressing concern over the areas of the state which have been declared as dark zones in terms of groundwater exploitation, Cheema said the farmers should adopt water-saving irrigation techniques to protect this natural resource for future generations. He also encouraged them for breaking the traditional crop cycle by opting for modern farming models to increase their income.

To a query regarding the Chinese virus, Harpal Singh Cheema said the state government had issued instructions to agricultural experts to protect the paddy crop from the attack of this virus. On the subsidy issue, Cheema said the state government would not only continue the subsidies being given to the farmers but also set a mechanism to provide these subsidies directly into their bank accounts.

On the occasion, AAP MLA Dr Balbir Singh, Dr SS Gosal, Vice-Chancellor of Punjab Agricultural University, and Dr MS Kang, former Vice-Chancellor, urged the farmers to reduce the use of chemical fertilisers with the use of bio-fertilisers to reduce their input cost. They also called for making agriculture a science-based profession.

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