Strict legislation for nurseries on the cards in Punjab

Ruchika M Khanna

Chandigarh, March 5

Ram Singh (name changed), a farmer in Ropar district, bought 300 saplings of citrus from a nursery in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, in 2019, hoping to reap a rich harvest. However, just three years after he planted the saplings, he realised that he had been defrauded as the crop did not bear fruit as it was affected by pre-harvest disease.

The seller had “bluffed” him by showing him pictures of fruit-laden orchards from the seeds being sold to him. Instead of buying seeds from a government nursery in Punjab or any of the known private and tried and tested nursery, he bought the planting material from an unknown nursery, which also offered him a heavy discount.

He is not the only horticulturist in the state to have been defrauded. There are many like him, who are buying the saplings or seeds for horticulture crops from either outside the state or nurseries in the state are procuring these plants from outside and selling these to growers here. Many horticulturists who buy planting material from a village in Ferozepur have also complained about the pathogen-infested material being sold to them, leading to complete loss of crop.

It is to solve the problem of such farmers that Punjab is now framing the rules for enactment of the Punjab Fruit Nurseries (Amendment) Bill. With this, Punjab will become the first state in the country to start a Clean Plant Programme, with emphasis on traceability of plants. Once the law is enforced, nurseries will be accountable for supplying disease-free and pathogen-free planting material. Failure of the crop will invite strict punishment for nurseries from where the seed/ sapling is sourced.

Officials in the Horticulture Department as well as farmers say that the law, once enforced, will make horticulture a more profitable venture. As of now, farmers prefer to go in for crops whose procurement is assured under the Minimum Support Price regime (wheat and paddy).

While the office of Legal Remembrancer is framing the rules (the Act was passed in 2021), the Horticulture Department has already started the ground work. “The soil testing of the 23 nurseries in the state and root stock and mother plants has been started. We will ensure quality material, so as to complement the government’s efforts in crop diversification,” said Shailender Kaur, Director (Horticulture).

All nurseries in the state will now have to take a licence from the state government after their soil, root stock and mother plant has been tested for pathogens and other diseases. The nurseries will then be forbidden to buy material grown outside the state and sell in Punjab, though farmers on their own can buy from outside the state at their own risk.

Rules being framed

• Punjab is now framing the rules for enactment of the Punjab Fruit Nurseries (Amendment) Bill
• Nurseries will be accountable for supplying pathogen-free material
• Failure of the crop will invite strict punishment for nurseries from where the seed/sapling is sourced