Badal to give financial assistance to farmers in Kandi area

In a move to save the agricultural lands in sub-mountaneous or Kandi regions from the scourge of wild animals, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today directed the government to provide financial assistance in installing fences for the farmers.
Acting on the recommendations of the Chairman Punjab Farmers Commission G S Kalkatt, who had highlighted the plight of the farmers before the Chief Minister in a meeting here, Badal asked authorities to formulate a special scheme so that farmers of Kandi areas could be given financial assistance for installing fence around their land, an official spokesman said.
Expressing concern over the plight of these farmers whose crops were ruined by the wild animals, Badal said the poor farmers must be extended a helping hand by the state.

He asked the authorities to explore the feasibility of promoting Horticulture in this area by providing subsidies to the farmers so that they could be benefited from it.
In another decision, the Chief Minister asked the agriculture department to make efforts in promoting Soyabean cultivation in the state as it could prove to be a boon for the farmers of the state.
Badal asked the government authorities to undertake the trails of SL 958 variety of Soyabean, recently developed by the Punja Agricultural Uuniversity (PAU), in the farms across the state to gauge its performance.
In order to tackle with the problem of burning of paddy straw, the Chief Minister asked the Agriculture Department to prepare the plan for promoting ultra modern straw choppers in the state by providing maximum subsidy on it.

He said that the ultra modern choppers available at a price of Rs 2.25 lakh must be popularised by giving subsidies besides providing them to Agro Service Centers and individual farmers.