To give a big thrust to improve the farm productivity in Punjab, the State Government has given its clear mandate to Punjab Agriculture University, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) and other premier educational institute to focus on research based projects.
The decision was taken at a State level sanctioning committee meeting of Rashtrya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) chaired by State Chief Secretary Sarvesh Kaushal.
The main objectives of RKVY are to incentivize the State so as to increase the public investment in agriculture and allied sectors, besides providing
flexibility and autonomies to the States in the process of planning and executing agriculture and allied sector scheme.
The main components of the scheme include production growth and Infrastructure assets developments.
During the review meeting, agriculture and allied sector projects worth Rs 440 crore were discussed in detail.
It was informed that 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.
Reviewing the physical progress of the projects, Chief Secretary directed the officials of Agriculture department to immediately send utilization certificates of previous years to the
Central Government to avoid any obstacle to the funds meant for next financial year.
Proposal to establish two Skill Development Centres at PAU and GADVASU were approved an outlay of Rs 33.55 crore. Chief Secretary stressed that the ongoing schemes should be given preference under this scheme so that the projects of the previous years may be completed on time.
Discussing the projects of Agriculture Department, Chief Secretary emphasized to provide quality seeds to the farmers for which seeds, already certified by the seed certification authorities of the state, would again be tested in hi-tech labs in PAU ludhiana.
He also stressed on targeted research for the minor crops namely pulses and oilseeds to replace the area from paddy crop to these minor crops.
At the same time, Kaushal emphasized on the need of better coordination between the Universities and the Departments so that better results could be derived in the larger interests of the farmers.
Agriculture Department was asked to include projects focusing on organic farming under this scheme, besides improving the usage of bio fertilizers among farmers which was essential to prevent any long-term health hazards to the people.
A project on Specialized Storage Structure Systems for Organic Produce Projects worth Rs 90 crore was also approved besides other key projects included development of modern seed storage facilities, mechanization of sugar harvesting, breeding for high performance hybrids of maize, establishment of tissue culture unit etc.
