To make Punjab a ‘zero stubble burning state’, the Punjab Agriculture Department has initiated a massive drive to provide more than 28,000 agro-machines or farm equipment to the farmers with subsidy component of Rs 278 crore during the current fiscal under the first phase for in-situ management of paddy residue.
Subsidy ranging from 50 to 80 percent is being provided to the farmers under the scheme with 80 percent subsidy to cooperative societies and farmers groups while 50 percent for individuals, said the official spokesperson.
The Government focused to deliver state-of-the-art machines to farmers including Super SMS, Happy Seeder, Paddy Straw Chopper or Shredder or Mulcher, Hydraulic Reversible Mould Board Plough and Zero Till Drill. The Department has received around 12,000 applications from individual farmers and farmers groups and Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS) till date for subsidized machinery, said the state Agriculture Secretary Kahan Singh Pannu.
Pannu said that under first phase, around 15,000 machines are being subsidized at 50 percent for individual farmers, another 13,000 agro-machines are being provided to around 2,200 farmer groups or Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS) at a subsidy of 80 percent to establish Farm Machinery Banks (FMBs) to be used as Custom Hiring Centres.
“To supply the requisite machinery to the farmers, the Department has fully geared up to complete the task of distribution of these implements before September 15, 2019,” he said.
Pannu said that the Agriculture Department had also already initiated Information Education Communication (IEC) activities to educate farmers about the ill-effects of paddy straw burning.