CACP exhorts farmers to opt maize, cotton cultivation for diversification
MOGA, DECEMBER 10, 2019: With an aim to reduce the trend of wheat and paddy crop rotation, the Commission for Agricultural Cost and Prices (CACP) on Tuesday, urged farmers to take up maize or cotton cultivation as an alternative crop for diversification.
The team from CACP led by Chairman Professor Vijay Paul Sharma along with Director Agriculture Punjab Dr Sutantar Kumar Aeri and Joint Director Agriculture Engineer Manmohan Kalia was here in Moga district to listen to the problems being faced by farmers on the ground root level. The team was accompanied by Moga Chief Agriculture Officer Dr Balwinder Singh, Plant Protection Officer Jaswinder Brar and Agriculture Officer Kuldeep Singh.
The team has visited three villages including Talwandi Bhangeria, Manuke and Dina Sahib in the district and listened to problems regarding actual cost incurred on the farming.
Chairman Professor Vijay Paul Sharma while assuring to resolve all their issues also urged farmers to opt cultivation of maize or cotton, which saves a lot of water and helps to recharge the groundwater table to a great extent as compared to paddy which needs a lot of water.
Farmers apprised the team members about the huge expenditure of around Rs 5000 per acre needed to plough the paddy stubble into the field and also informed them about the problem of stray cattle in the villages. Agreeing on diversifying their crop to maize, farmers asked the team to fix the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of the maize to Rs 3000 per quintal.
The team members assured fulsome support to farmers and said that they will definitely take up all their issues on a higher level.