In a bid to encourage the farmers to cultivate alternative crops and reduce wheat and paddy crop rotation in Haryana, the State Government has decided to launch a pilot project from May 27 in seven blocks.
Under the project, the government will offer free seeds, financial assistance among other things to farmers to promote crop diversification in Haryana. Initially, an amount of Rs 25 crore has been earmarked for the scheme.
“Haryana Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Department has decided to start a pilot project in seven blocks of the state namely Assandh, Pundri, Narwana, Thanesar, Ambala-1, Radaur and Ganaur to divert the inclination of farmers from paddy to maize and pulses or oilseeds. For this, the registration of interested farmers would be done on Department’s portal,” said Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal while addressing a press conference here.
After taking permission from the Election Commission, we have decided to launch this scheme which would be implemented for the first time in the country, he said.
Under this scheme, the identified farmers will be provided seed free of cost, which costs around Rs 1200 to Rs 2000. Apart from seed, a financial assistance for Rs 2000 per acre will be provided in two phases, that is, Rs 200 at the time of registration on the portal and balance Rs. 1800 after verification of the sown area.
The Maize crop insurance premium of Rs 766 per hectare will also be borne by the Government under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, the Chief Minister said.
He said that maize produce of the farmers will also be procured by government agencies such as Hafed, Food, and Supply Department at Minimum Support Price. Likewise, during Kharif season, the diversification of Paddy by Pulses (Arhar) will be done in 2500 hectares area. The seed of pulses will also be provided free of cost to the farmer and incentive will also provided on the same pattern.
The scheme will be launched in seven districts of Haryana namely Yamunanagar, Ambala, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Jind and Sonipat where majorly paddy and wheat are grown.
Paddy is produced on 195357 hectares area in seven blocks which have been covered under the scheme of which non basmati paddy is produced in 45 per cent, that is, 87900 hectares area and the main aim is to reduce sowing of paddy on 50,000 hectares area, the Chief Minister said in reply to a query.
The Department has formulated the scheme keeping in mind the interest of farmers and water conservation. By diversifying area of non-basmati paddy into maize under this scheme, a total saving of water is expected to be 0.71 crore cm (1cm = 1 lakh litres of water), he added.
Manohar Lal said that nine districts in the state are moving towards the status of dark zone in terms of depletion of groundwater level.
Several studies have confirmed that persistent and repeated mono-cropping leads to soil degradation and subsequent loss in its retention capacity. Excessive irrigation has also resulted in steady deterioration of ground water level and soil fertility in the state. The rice and wheat monopoly has also reduced the leguminous pulses from the state agriculture scene.
Manohar Lal said that maize is the ultimate solution to replace paddy in Haryana and has various strengths such as many fold water saving, increase wheat yield, suitable for conservation and less chemical input in maize farming.
He further said that the ultimate aim of launching the crop diversification scheme is to save water, electricity and to improve the soil health. The major concern for rice adoption in the state are water scarcity, increase power requirement, soil and human health, futuristic problems such as depletion of water table, ground water pollution, bad effect on wheat as due to delaying in wheat sowing the risk of terminal heat at the time of maturity is increasing and reducing the wheat yield thus causing direct loss to the farmers, Manohar Lal added.
If Maize and Arhar are sown instead of paddy, it is expected that 10 per cent more wheat would be produced because Maize get matured in 90 to 100 days and fields are empty by October 10. Therefore, there will be enough time for sowing wheat whereas the paddy crop takes 130 to 140 days to mature and fields are empty in November. Then there is problem of crop residue management, he said.
Giving information about Haryana Pond Authority, the Chief Minister said that the National Green Tribunal has appreciated this scheme of Haryana and advised other states to study it/
He said that there are about 14,000 ponds in the state and their water is treated through 3-pond or 5-pond system which is used for irrigation purposes. In the first phase, it has been implemented for 4,000 ponds.
He said that a scheme has been introduced to fill up dry ponds, which has resulted in improving the groundwater level.
On the issue of scarcity of drinking water in Haryana, the Chief Minister said that directions have been given to the concerned officials to ensure that drinking water is supplied through tubewell or canal based system.
We are aware of the fact that people at 10-12 places had decided to boycott the Lok Sabha elections due to non-availability of drinking water. We have decided to take this issue on priority and ensure drinking water supply in these areas, he said.
Apart from this, 101 places have been identified where the quality of water is affected. Work is in progress and in next three months, canal based water supply will be provided to the affected areas, he added.