Punjab: 37 onground teams to scout and monitor Pink Bollworm attack
13 July 2022, Chandigarh: The Agriculture Minister Mr. Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal today directed the officers of the department to get the farmers out of the serious crisis, make agriculture a profitable business and to bail out the farmers out of the wheat-paddy crop cycle.
Mr. Dhaliwal during his maiden meeting with all the officers of the Agriculture Department at Punjab Mandi Board Bhawan said to save the agriculture of the state as the economy of the state is based on agriculture.
The Agriculture Minister said that sale of fake pesticides, fertilizers and seeds would be banned and strict action will be taken if any such counterfeit goods are seized. He directed the agriculture authorities for eradicating the scourge of counterfeit medicines and seeds from Punjab. He said that this was his first objective in this department.
Instructing the agriculture authorities to deal with the possible infestation of pink bollworm on the cotton crop. Mr. Dhaliwal said that all the officers from the field officers to the headquarters would visit the vulnerable Malwa belt from tomorrow. This time no crop of any farmer would be allowed to be damaged. The 37 teams of the department would inspect and report the condtion of crop in six districts of Narma Patti.
The Agriculture Minister said that marketing would be strengthened to make crop diversification a success and emphasis would be laid on marketing of these crops to promote maize and other allied crops like corn. He said that direct sowing of paddy was being encouraged by the Punjab government and to achieve this goal the agriculture authorities should promote this scheme as much as possible and ensure access to small farmers.
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