Punjab to hold agriculture summit

After garnering investment commitments of nearly Rs.65,000 crore from the industrial sector, the Punjab government Wednesday announced that a mega agriculture summit would be organised in the state February 2013.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal told media in Bathinda, 260 km from here, that the agriculture summit would be organised to give impetus to the agro-based economy of the state.

The agri-summit would be held Feb 23-24 next year, Badal said. The venue of the summit is yet to be finalised.

"The state government would invite progressive farmers, agriculture experts and leading agriculture companies from across the globe for the detailed deliberations and chalking out strategy to bail out the state farmers from the current agrarian crisis," he said.

Badal said Punjab was an agrarian economy and the focus would be to give a push to this sector.

Punjab alone contributes nearly 60 percent food grains to the national kitty despite having just 1.54 percent of the country's geographical area.