[ad_1]
Jalandhar |
November 15, 2020 9:33:34 pm
DESPITE BEING included in ‘Operation Greens’ as a part of the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’ — prolonged by the Centre to incorporate not simply TOP (Tomato, Onion and Potato) however all vegetables and fruit (TOTAL) amid the pandemic — Punjab might not profit as the scheme will finish before harvesting begins for the principle crops.
The function of the scheme was to help farmers affected by restrictions. The provide chain was disrupted and farmers weren’t in a position to promote their produce out there. To the financial system as a part of ‘Atamnirbhar Bharat’, this scheme was prolonged for six months, ending in November.
The scheme gives 50 per cent subsidy on transportation from surplus manufacturing to poor markets and 50 per cent subsidy on storage, together with chilly storage.
The scheme was applied on June 10 this 12 months.
Earlier, Punjab was saved out of the checklist of states to benfit under TOP, which was a Rs 500 crore scheme introduced in 2018 by then finance minister Arun Jaitley. During the Covid interval, present Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced a central sector scheme — ‘Operation Greens’ — for built-in growth of TOP and prolonged to all vegetables and fruit (TOTAL).
In Punjab, potato, kinnow and greens come under the TOTAL scheme, however despite the fact that the scheme was prolonged by six months, the state is not going to profit as all these are winter crops to be harvested in December.
Potato sowing simply bought over in Punjab.
“We have written to the Centre to extend this scheme,” mentioned Ranbir Singh, basic supervisor, Punjab Agro, including that contemplating Punjab is the foremost potato seed-growing state and solely grower of kinnow fruit, it is essential to increase the scheme until the tip of season for each crops.
In Punjab, harvesting of desk potatoes begins in December and the principle crop is available in February and March, whereas kinnow arrival additionally begins early December and continues until March.
There are occasions when farmers have been promoting each crops at charges a lot under even their enter value.
“Punjab may not be producing much table potato compared to other states but it is a main seed producer of the country. It could not be excluded from the TOP scheme and now TOTAL must be extended,” mentioned Managing Director, Punjab Agro, Manjit Singh Brar, including that Punjab farmers had confronted main losses in 2018 and 2019 as a consequence of non-inclusion within the TOP scheme.
Punjab is a significant provider of seed potatoes to farmers in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and different potato producing states. It meets almost two-third of the nation’s seed requirement.
Out of its complete 2.7 million tonnes (MT) manufacturing, 1.6 MT includes seed potatoes, that are grown on over one lakh hectares throughout the Doaba area, which incorporates Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur and Nawanshahr. Kinnow can also be grown solely in Punjab in over 50,000 hectares space. Nearly 10-lakh tonnes of the fruit is grown within the state yearly.
“If the government supports us under TOTAL, Punjab’s farmers will diversify more areas under fruits and vegetables,” mentioned a farmer.
[ad_2]
Source hyperlink