M A I N   N E W S

Ensure MSP for alternative crops, Badal tells Centre
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, November 27
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Tuesday pressed the Union Government to provide minimum support price (MSP) for alternative crops such as maize.

Presenting the case of Punjab farmers to President Pranab Mukherjee here, Badal said agricultural diversification was the need of the hour in the state. However, diversification was viable only if the Government of India provided the MSP for crops such as maize, he said.

“The farmers, to come out of the rut of the wheat-paddy cycle, should have an assured procurement mechanism for alternative crops,” said Badal.

He urged the President to advise the Centre to facilitate free trade through the Attari Integrated Check Post. The Chief Minister also called upon Mukherjee to use his good offices to get liberal grants for PAU to enable it to carry forth its research programmes with a special focus on agricultural diversification.

Punjab has been contributing around 38-75 per cent of wheat and 25-45 per cent of rice to the national food stock, said Badal. But the state is reeling under acute agriculture crisis, he said. “Punjab has had to pay a big price for the wheat-paddy cycle. The groundwater resources are being overexploited. The farmers have sacrificed their only natural assets - land fertility and water - for national food security,” he added. The agrarian economy needs to be bailed out of the slow growth, declining farm income and dwindling resources, said Badal.

Badal said the farmers were reeling under a heavy debt, as the Central Government's waiver had not benefitted them.