Punjab govt to focus on productivity of agriculture: CS

To improve farm productivity in Punjab, the government has given its mandate to Punjab Agriculture University, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University and other educational institute to focus on research based projects, a senior officer said today.
At a State Level Sanctioning Committee meeting of Rashtrya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) Punjab Chief Secretary Sarvesh Kaushal said the objectives of the scheme were to incentivise these institutes to plan things for agriculture and its allied sectors.
"The prime components of the scheme include production growth and Infrastructure assets developments," he said.
Kaushal stressed upon to provide quality seeds to the farmers.

"For this purpose seeds already certified by the seed certification authorities of the state would again be tested in hi-tech labs in Agriculture University, Ludhiana," he said.
During the review meeting, agriculture and allied sector projects worth Rs 440 crore were discussed in detail, Kaushal said.

For the current financial year, Rs 413.71 crore has already been released to the nodal departments and implementing agencies for the implementation of approved projects under RKVY and its sub-schemes, he said.
Kaushal directed the officials of agriculture department to immediately send utilization certificates of previous years to Union Government to avoid any obstacle to the funds meant for next financial year.

The Chief Secretary emphasised on the need of better coordination between the universities and the departments to derive better results in the larger interests of the farmers.
During the meeting, the agriculture department was asked to include projects focusing on organic farming under this scheme to give a thrust to organic farming in the state.
The key projects of agriculture department which were considered, included project for improving wheat crop productivity, efficient distribution of fertilizers in the state, efficient use of irrigation water, efficient utilization of nitrogenous fertilizers, technology to check straw burning, Kaushal said.
He stressed that improvement in the usage of bio-fertilizers among the farmers was essential to prevent any long term health hazards to the people.