PUNJAB TRANSFERS RS 2.69 CRORE COTTON SEED SUBSIDY TO OVER 15K FARMERS

Chandigarh News: As promised by the Chief Minister S. Bhagwant Singh Mann led state government to provide a 33 per cent subsidy on cotton seeds, Punjab Agriculture and Farmers Welfare department transferred cotton seed subsidy amounting to Rs 2.69 crore into the bank accounts of as many as 15,541 farmers of the state.

       Disclosing this here today, Punjab Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian said that a total of Rs 17.02 crore has been transferred to 87,173 farmers so far through the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) system. This subsidy is being provided for the cotton seeds certified by the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU).

        Notably, the Agriculture Department had earlier released Rs 14.33 crore to 71,632 beneficiary farmers under the first phase.

       The further subsidy would be released to eligible farmers in the coming days, said the Agriculture Minister.

       Reiterating the commitment of Chief Minister S. Bhagwant Singh Mann to make the agriculture sector profitable for farmers, the Agriculture Minister said that the high-yielding cotton seeds were made available to encourage farmers to shun water-guzzling paddy crop. Now, preventive measures are also being taken to save the cotton crop from the attack of white-fly and pink boll-worms.

       Apart from this, quality control is also being ensured to make sure the supply of quality agri-inputs to farmers for this purpose teams from the Agriculture department have also been pressed into service and inspections are being conducted frequently in the field, he added.