To encourage farmers in Haryana to adopt sowing of wheat through happy seeder machine in paddy growing districts, Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister OP Dhankar on Tuesday directed the officers concerned to launch a special drive of demonstration plots.
The department would provide half of the cost of sowing to the farmers for the same, said the Minister while presiding over a meeting here.
During the meeting, it was informed that the Department has 28 happy seeders of its own, whereas 65 happy seeder machines have been made available to farmers on subsidy.
The Minister suggested that happy seeders might be taken on rent from farmers having these machines, so as to get sowing done by others.
While reviewing the issue of paddy stubble, Dhankar stressed the need to get a long term scheme prepared with the help of scientists to find a permanent solution to the problem of paddy stubble.
He said that help of scientists of Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agriculture University, Hisar or Indian Council for Agricultural Research could be sought.Principal Secretary, Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Department, Abhilaksh likhi apprised the Minister that a seminar-cum-workshop would be organized at Indian Council for Agricultural Research, New Delhi so as to prepare a long term scheme to sort out this issue.
The Minister was apprized that a subsidy of Rs 50,000 is given on happy seeder machine by the Department. The farmers interested in sowing through happy seeder would have to contact the concerned Agriculture Development Officer and had to deposit Rs 1,000 in the bank. Thereafter, that happy seeder machine would be provided for a day for sowing to the farmer.
Meanwhile, the Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister said that under crop diversification programme of Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, the Department has finalised a programme to promote agro-forestry alongwith wheat crop over an area of 8,100 acres in four districts of Yamunanagar, Ambala, Karnal and Kurukshetra during the year 2016-17.
Under this scheme, demonstration plots would be set up and subsidy at the rate of Rs 2,000 per acre would be given to farmers. A farmer would be able to get benefit of maximum upto two acres of land, he said. He said that programme would cover 6,100 acres in Yamunanagar, 1,250 acres in Ambala, 500 acres in Kurukshetra and 250 acres in Karnal districts.
Dhankar said that interested farmers could either contact the Agriculture Development Officer of their respective areas or department’s website to avail the benefit of the scheme, which would be on first come first basis.