REINING IN STUBBLE BURNING Faridkot, August 18 Deputy Commissioner Kumar Sourabh Raj has said to make Punjab a “zero stubble-burning state”, the state Agriculture Department has initiated a massive drive to provide more than 28,000 agro-machines or farm equipment to farmers with a subsidy component of Rs278 crore during the current fiscal. He said it was being initiated under the first phase of management of paddy residue, he added. The DC said subsidy ranging from 50 per cent to 80 per cent was being provided to farmers. “While 80 per cent of the subsidy is being given to cooperative societies and farmers groups, the benefit of 50 percent subsidy is available for individual farmers. The state government has focused to deliver state-of-the-art machines to farmers, including super SMS, happy seeder, paddy straw chopper/shredder/mulcher, hydraulic reversible mould board plough and zero till drill,” said the DC. District Chief Agriculture Officer Dr Harvinder Singh said under the first phase, around 15,000 machines were being given on 50 per cent subsidised rates to individual farmers. He said another 13,000 agro-machines were being provided to around 2,200 farmer groups or Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS) on 80 per cent subsidy to establish Farm Machinery Banks (FMBs) to be used as custom hiring centres. The District Chief Agriculture Officer added that to supply the requisite machinery to farmers, the Agriculture Department has fully geared up to complete the task before September 15. The Agriculture Department has also already initiated Information Education Communication (IEC) activities to educate farmers about the ill-effects of paddy straw burning. This awareness campaign was primarily aimed at imparting training to farmers and practical demonstration of equipment for In-Situ Crop Residue Management. The department also urged the farmers to make optimum use of subsidised agri-machinery to do away the practice of stubble burning, ensuring health and hygiene of the people and preserving the environment. Dr Amandeep Keshav, project director ATMA, said during 2018-19, a total of 28,609 machines were provided to individual farmers on 50 per cent subsidy out of which 12,075 machines had been provided to individual farmers. He said the remaining 16,534 machines had been provided to cooperative societies and farmers’ group on 80 per cent subsidy.

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