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| Area under wheat in Punjab to touch 35.20 lakh hectares |
| Vijay C Roy / New Delhi/ Chandigarh Nov 13, 2009, 00:51 IST |
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There might be political uproar over the meager revision of MSP of wheat (Rs 20 per quintal hike), but the farmers in Punjab are firm on expanding the area under wheat cultivation. The state agriculture department is hopeful that this year also the total area under wheat would surpass the designated target of 35.20 lakh hectares.
It is worth noting that the Centre has hiked the MSP of wheat by Rs 20 per quintal, raising it to Rs 1, 100 from last year’s Rs 1, 080 per quintal. The meager hike drew the attention of various political parties who described it as ‘woefully inadequate and unjustified’.
According to the officials of the state agriculture department, the total area targeted under wheat cultivation this rabi season is 35.20 lakh hectares. However, they apprehend this year also the targeted area would be surpassed like previous year. Last year, the state agriculture department had projected the total area under wheat cultivation would touch 34.80 lakh hectares, however, the area touched 35.26 lakh hectares. Considering the area, the state agriculture department is hopeful that this year, the production of wheat in the state would touch 155.75 lakh metric tonnes.
AT least 90 per cent (during the Rabi season) of the total area in the state is under wheat cultivation and rest is under oil seeds, pulses and barley. To increase the acreage, the Centre has given Rs 40 crore to the state government under National Food Security Mission. Further, to increase the wheat production in the state, the Centre has selected 10 districts of the state namely, Mohali, Ropar, Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Ferozpur, Bathinda, Barnala, Tarn Tarn and Sangrur under National Food Security mission (NFS). Under NFS, the farmers have been provided a subsidy of Rs 500 per quintal of wheat seeds in these 10 districts.
Thus, seed to the farmers are being provided at the rate of Rs 1, 250 per quintal against the market price of Rs 1, 750 per quintal. Besides, the state government under NFS has distributed 32, 486 seed minicates each of 10 kg of high yielding varieties of wheat, namely DPW-17, PBW 550 free to the farmers in 667 villages of these 10 districts. Also, the state agriculture departmenthas provided 50 per cent subsidy on seeds (maximum up to 20 Kg seeds) to the farmers of these 667 villages under the seed village programme of the state government.
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