'Punjab must be given aid to renovate soil health'

Ludhiana, June 15 : Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), one of the country's premier agricultural universities responsible for the Green Revolution, feels that states like Punjab which contribute maximum to the nation's pool of foodgrains must be given special financial provision to renovate soil health.

In its observations on the Draft National Policy for farmers, PAU has observed that there was little or no chance of small and marginal farmers accruing any benefit with the use of high yielding seeds specially of genetically modified crops as these are expensive.

Therefore there is a need for providing such seeds to farmers at reasonable prices.

PAU has also suggested including social cost of production of depleting natural resources, loss of biodiversity and soil fatigue while calculating the minimum support price (MSP) for various farm products.

PAU has forwarded its suggestions on the Draft National Policy on agriculture to the National Commission on Farmers.The Commission which has sought suggestions from all states, will prepare a final policy document on agriculture for the Union government.It is expected to be submitted to the government on August 15, next year.

The university has also suggested that land and water use and planning policy based on national demand for different agricultural products must also be framed keeping in mind resource endowment of different regions, comparative advantage of production and availability of infrastructure.

The University has also supported the Punjab government's case of Rs 1280 crore demanded by Johl Committee from the Union government for diversification, so as to compensate the farmers for loss in income due to switch over from rice to other crops. The Johl Committee was set up by the Punjab government for suggesting changes in the agriculture pattern.

PAU director of research Dr Dhillon said in its suggestions to the National Farmers Commission on Farmers, PAU laid stress on agricultural bio-security for livelihood and security of farmers and food. Therefore, the national agricultural bio-security system must be integrated with crop and income insurance programmes.

In this context, PAU has cautioned about impact of climatic changes which may have serious implications on food and livelihood security. There should be continuous monitoring and vision and need for automatic weather stations across the country with on-line access, as this will help to decide crop and land use pattern in consonance with water resources availablity, the university suggested.

PAU has strongly advocated minimum support price and assured marketing in all areas to support 'dying' crops and saving high value crops from price fluctuations. Farmers must be ensured remunerative prices for assured marketing of oil seed, pulses fruits and vegetables.

For public-private partnership and involvement of industry for developing demand driven techonology and improving international competitiveness, the university feels that it is essential to develop 'lab-to-land-to-industry' programmes for post harvest technologies in value addition with appropriate mechanism for feedback from industry.

Referring to agricultural technologies, PAU has empbasised on basic integrative biotechnology of plants, micro organisms, crop pets and pathogens for finding solutions to the complicated problems of resistance to diseases and pests, abiotic and biotic stress nutrient recycling and to improve the quality of agricultural products.

UNI