Crop diversification: Punjab to target 3 lakh hectares for crop like maize
The Punjab agriculture department is offering an incentive of ₹17,500 per hectare to encourage farmers to switch from paddy to alternative crops like maize during the current kharif season. The crop diversification plan (CDP) aims to cover 3 lakh hectares. Currently, 27 lakh hectares of the total 30 lakh hectares are sown with paddy, including basmati. The department, led by special chief secretary KAP Sinha, will target the remaining land for maize cultivation, with incentives verified through farmers’ J-forms post-harvest.
The farmers opting for alternate crops like maize this kharif season will be given an incentive of ₹17,500 per hectare
Punjab agriculture department is contemplating covering 3 lakh hectares under its crop diversification plan (CDP), asking the paddy growers to shift to an alternative crop like maize, in the current kharif season. The growers are being offered an incentive of ₹17,500 per hectare (or ₹7,000 per acre).
Out of the total 30 lakh hectares, paddy, including the aromatic premium variety basmati, has been sown on 27 lakh hectares and the rest is waiting to be cultivated. It is this remaining land waiting to be cultivated that the state government will look to target under its CDP plan for this season. This comes after the Centre agreed to bring it under the federal crop diversification programme following a meeting between Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his Punjab counterpart Gurmeet Singh Khudian in the national capital.
“The department will ask farmers to cultivate maize over the remaining area to help the CDP,” said special chief secretary KAP Sinha, who heads the agriculture department.
The department will compare the J-forms of the farmers claiming incentives after the crop is sold at the end of the season, he added, informing the system of offering incentives.
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