Chandigarh, Aug 10: Punjab government will soon formulate an agriculture livelihood policy, apart from setting up a market intelligence cell to guide farmers about the ongoing global trends. Besides, in the wake of reports of spurious pesticides and fertilizers, a proposal is being mooted to keep a database of sale of such products.
Ajay Vir Jakhar, chairman of Farmers’ Commission for Punjab, said that the state had formulated draft policies in the past but these were not implemented properly. The agriculture livelihood policy will look at practical ways to help farmers convert their vocation into a profitable one. “The market intelligence cell will keep a tab on agriculture prices and trends to give inputs to farmers. It will also create a database so that issues of farmers could be dealt with in a scientific way,” he maintained.
“I don’t think the state has an agriculture policy right now. We are in the process of coming up with one and feedback is being taken from all stakeholders. The policy will be out by year-end,” said Jakhar. Asked about power subsidy, he said it was a decision taken by the state government but the farmers’ commission does not want to dispute it. The latter is also working on the merger of cooperative banks in the state so that their cash-deposit ratio is improved.
A draft agriculture policy was prepared by the state in March 2013 under G S Kalkat, who was chairman of the committee for formulation of the state agriculture policy. The thrust of the policy was to suggest future course of growth and development for agriculture sector and ways and means to improve sustainability of agriculture production and increase real farm incomes.
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News Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
