Punjab govt urges farmers to go for staggered paddy sowing in view of power crisis
The notification issued by the state government says that if farmers follow a staggered schedule for sowing paddy, it can automatically resolve all other issues like shortage of labour and manure, besides power crisis. According to the power minister, if the farmers go by the agricultural experts’ advice, their produce will not be affected.
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In view of the power crisis, Punjab power minister Harbhajan Singh has urged the farmers to adopt staggered sowing for paddy. He made the request while speaking to various farmer organizations on Tuesday. However, the farmers have refused to follow the power supply and paddy sowing schedule provided by the state government earlier.
The notification issued by the state government says that if farmers follow a staggered schedule for sowing paddy, it can automatically resolve all other issues like shortage of labour and manure, besides power crisis. According to the power minister, if the farmers go by the agricultural experts’ advice, their produce will not be affected.
The paddy sowing season is scheduled to start next month. According to the previous proposal from the government, farmers had to start sowing paddy from 18 June. This sowing was to be done on different dates in different areas to avoid a surge in power demand. But the 16 farmer organizations rejected the schedule given by the state government and said that they would sow paddy from June 10.
Sowing in Sangrur, Barnala, Malerkotla, Ludhiana, Patiala and Sri Fatehgarh Sahib districts will take place from June 18, while that in Bathinda, Mansa, Moga, Faridkot, Ferozpur and Fazilka districts will start from June 22. Sowing in Mohali, Ropar, SBS Nagar, Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Sri Muktsar Sahib will begin from June 24, and that in Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Hoshiarpur, Amritsar and Tarn Taran would happen from June 26 onwards.
