DW BUREAU / Kapurthala

Member of Punjab legislative assembly from Kapurthala Rana Gurjeet Singh today demanded support from the Government of India and Punjab government for basmati growers of the state, as the prices of the produce being sold in the state in the current season according to him have fallen by 40% as compared to the prices the crop fetched the last year.

According to Rana Gurjeet Singh the Punjab government pushes the farmers to diversify crop cultivation and shift from growing water guzzler parmal variety paddy and when they have grown the price offered do not commensurate with their hard work and the input cost.

"The Punjab government has promised farmers to create a corpus fund to support the crops other than paddy and wheat which are covered under minimum support price (MSP), so when farmers are taking risk the government should come in their support," said Gurjeet Singh. He suggested that Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) an entity of the government of India should make arrangements to facilitate basmati growers.

It is in benefit of the government as basmati exports brings foreign exchange worth Rs. 48,000 crore annually and also helps in environment conservation by controlling excessive use of ground water which is falling at a very drastic speed.

According to the MLA with the efforts of the farmers the area under premium basmati cultivation, has increased by 84,000 hectares to 6.80 lakh hectares. "Due to the ongoing war between Iran and Israel the logistic cost has also gone up and the orders from middle-eastern countries have been very low,"

said the MLA.
(editor@dailyworld.in)