Punjab farmers to attend crop residue management meet

Chandigarh, Sep 8 (IANS) Four hundred farmers from Punjab will participate in the national conference on crop residue management in New Delhi on Monday.

Nearly 1,000 farmers from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh would be part of the conference and also share their innovative ideas adopted for in-situ crop residue management, a spokesperson for the state Agriculture Department said here.

This conference is being organized by the state government and would go a long way in mitigating the problem of stubble burning, besides creating awareness among the farming community.

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar will deliver an inaugural address at the conference.

Experts from state-run Punjab Agriculture University and the agriculture department will give presentation on initiatives taken by them for the adoption in-situ crop residues technologies.

While appreciating the efforts of farmers to curb stubble burning, state Secretary Agriculture Kahan Singh Pannu said the government has already launched a massive campaign to check stubble burning.

He said that with the concerted efforts of the ministries and various departments, stubble burning had been reduced remarkably as compared to previous years.

With a view to making Punjab a 'zero-stubble burning state', the Agriculture Department has already initiated a massive drive to provide more than 28,000 agro-machines and farm equipment with subsidy of Rs 274 crore during this fiscal.

Subsidy ranging from 50 to 80 per cent is being provided to the farmers under the scheme, he said.