Badal nod for panel giving high yield cane seeds to farmers

To give boost to crop diverfsication programme in Punjab, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today gave nod for constituting Sugarcane Research and Development Committee for providing High Yielding Varieties of cane seeds to the farmers in the state.

Besides, the Committee would provide logistics and infrastructural support to the cane growers, an official release said.

A decision to this effect was taken in a meeting of the Chief Minister with a delegation of the sugar mill owners, who called on him at his office.

Taking part in the deliberations, the Chief Minister impressed upon the need for enhancing sugarcane cultivation in the state by developing HYV of cane seeds besides introducing modern techniques of sugarcane cultivation in the state so that the cane cultivators could maximise their profits.

Badal, according to the release, said a Committee under his Chairmanship with two representatives each of sugar mill owners, farmers, Punjab Government and the agriculture experts would look into all the aspects for making the cane growing a remunerative profession in the state.

Underlining the need for crop diversification, he said switching over to the less water intensive crops like sugarcane and maize would not only help in saving the only available precious natural resources of the state -- soil and water -- but would also help in bailing out the beleaguered peasantry of the state from the current agrarian crisis.

The Chief Minister gave nod to give 50 % subsidy to sugar mill owners/farmers for the purchase of cane harvesters in the state, so as to give boost to the usage of modern techniques.