Chandigarh: Experts have suggested replacing free electricity for agriculture with direct cash incentives to farmers on a per-hectare basis to curb excessive groundwater extraction in Punjab.<\/p>\n
The recommendations were made during a high-level discussion organised by the Chandigarh Citizens Foundation on promoting diversification for sustainable and high-income agriculture in Punjab and Haryana.<\/p>\n
Participants, including policymakers, academicians and agricultural experts, stressed the need to move towards contract farming and balance crop cycles with market-oriented crops to address the ongoing agrarian crisis.<\/p>\n
They highlighted that existing measures for crop diversification have not yielded adequate results and called for a shift away from water-intensive wheat-paddy cycles.<\/p>\n
NITI Aayog member Dr Ramesh Chand said farmers should be encouraged to diversify towards crops such as mustard, cotton and maize, along with horticulture, to improve profitability.<\/p>\n
Experts also recommended introducing a crop insurance policy in Punjab to mitigate risks from climate change and natural disasters, which have increasingly impacted agricultural output.<\/p>\n
They suggested that shifting even 10% of paddy cultivation to alternative crops over the next decade could help achieve an annual agricultural growth rate of 3.4%.<\/p>\n
The discussion also emphasised the need to develop dedicated zones for fruits and vegetables and to establish a price stabilisation fund in Punjab on the lines of Haryana.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chandigarh: Experts have suggested replacing free electricity for agriculture with direct cash incentives to farmers on a per-hectare basis to curb excessive groundwater extraction in Punjab. The recommendations were made during a high-level discussion organised by the Chandigarh Citizens Foundation on promoting diversification for sustainable and high-income agriculture in Punjab and Haryana. Participants, including policymakers, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63038,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,20],"tags":[14136,14135],"class_list":["post-63037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest","category-punjab","tag-needed-to-save-groundwater-in-punjab-experts","tag-shift-from-free-power-to-cash-incentives"],"yoast_head":"\n