CHANDIGARH: Member of Legislative Assembly Punjab Rana Gurjeet Singh today launched a web portal www.barsatimakki.com to promote and encourage cultivation of maize as an alternative to water guzzling paddy crop, so as to conserve subsoil water which is depleting at a very fast pace, leading to desertification.
Launching the website, MLA from Kapurthala Rana Gurjeet Singh said: I am not drawing any political motive out of this, but working on a mission mode, owning the responsibility. I may be alone at this time, but the people are appreciating my work and are joining the program ‘Navi Soch, Nawan’ I have launched.
Rana assured to purchase the entire maize crop on minimum support price (MSP) of Rs. 2, 240 per quintal. “We will purchase crop from the farmers who have registered to our portal and would help them to follow best agricultural practises, ” he adds.
Further according to the law maker, the government should have taken this initiative forward. “I call upon the Punjab government to implement such programs and policies which are beneficial to the farmers and all other sections of the state’s population, ” he said.
Rana Gurjeet Singh said that when cotton crop suffered due to the infestation of pink bollworm, last year, he got trials conducted for cultivating maize as an alternative and the results were very encouraging so he had taken up the mission of replacing paddy with maize.
Rana Gurjeet Singh said, both my sons – MLA Sultanpur Lodhi Rana Inder Partap Singh and younger son Rana Karan Partap Singh are attached with the mission and have committed themselves to the cause of conserving subsoil water.
Explaining further Rana Inder Partap Singh said that the farmers who are cultivating maize replacing paddy, should register at the portal www.barsatimakki.com, using their phone and aadhar numbers, and include details of the land where maize has been cultivated. For the benefit of farmers website is available in Punjabi and English languages.
“We want genuine farmers to register with us, we will contact them, sign a long term agreement and take entire responsibility. The purpose of registration at the web portal is to avoid farmers coming from outside state so that farmers from Punjab get the benefit, ” adds Rana Inder Partap Singh.
After the farmers are registered at the portal, we would support them with good farm practises, best seed, nutrition, agro-chemical, stages of critical irrigation, weeds management, herbicide etc, adds the Sultanpur Lodhi MLA. He informed that the maize sown as an alternative to paddy saves more than 60% of the water consumed by water guzzling crop.
Answering a query, Rana Gurjeet Singh said that people in government are questioning the fate of maize crop sown in Punjab after two years, I ask the government why not they take the initiative forward beyond two years. “Why government is not saying that they will make arrangements for purchase of maize on MSP and the state government is not taking the support of government of India to offer MSP, ” he reiterated.
He further said that the government has announced to give Rs. 17, 500 per hectare, in total Rs. 21 crore, to the farmers who shift from paddy to maize. This is subsidy offered by the government of India. “I want to suggest that Punjab government should also offer Rs. 10, 000 per acre that is saved from power consumed in growing paddy, ” adds the MLA.
*He suggested that the government has proposed to take the maize cultivation to districts Kapurthala, Bathinda and Gurdaspur, which should be taken to Sangrur, Barnala and Mansa where the problem of depletion of subsoil water is very acute.