Farmers given 23,200 machines to check stubble-burning

Chandigarh, January 15

In its efforts to reduce the incidents of stubble burning, Agriculture Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal on Sunday said Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann-led government has made available more than 23,200 Crop Residue Management (CRM) machines to farmers, Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), panchayats and primary agricultural societies (PACS) in the state under the scheme ‘Promotion of Agricultural Mechanisation for in-Situ management of crop residue during the season.

He said the concrete efforts of the Agriculture Department had resulted in a 30 per cent decrease in stubble burning.

The minister said under this scheme, 1,13,622 machines had been provided. The department had also offered a subsidy at a rate of 50 per cent and 80 per cent to farmers and custom-hiring centres under this scheme.

He said the applications for the subsidy were called through an online portal to ease the procedure for availing this subsidy.

Highlighting the consistent efforts being made to provide the machinery to small and marginal farmers, Dhaliwal said the department had been trying to establish Custom Hiring Centres at each block wherein the CRM machines would be available, especially for small and marginal farmers.

He said Rs 7.4 crore had been made available to the districts for this. The department has also promoted the I-Khet App for bookings of the CRM machines, he added.