Chandigarh, Apr 4 (PTI) Punjab cooperation minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Monday announced the setting up of a task force which will work out a comprehensive plan to raise the income of sugarcane farmers.
Cheema who also holds the finance portfolio said that representatives from the Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore, Punjab Sugarfed and other experts will be part of the task force.
The panel will look for ways to increase the per-acre yield of sugarcane, he said, adding that the task force will prepare a draft in three months.
Cheema said the target has been set to increase the sugarcane yield by at least 100 quintals per acre in the next two years, and it will increase the farmers’ income up to Rs 36,000 per acre, an official statement said.
Apart from providing seeds of better varieties to sugarcane farmers, the government will impart training on mechanisation and modern techniques in sugarcane cultivation, said Cheema.
The government will also draft a plan to modernise cooperative sugar mills to make them self-reliant.
The cooperation minister has directed the officials to prepare a training programme in consultation with PAU Ludhiana, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore and Vasantdada Institute, and keep ready at least 30 lakh saplings of high-yielding varieties of sugarcane for the coming sowing season, the statement said. PTI CHS HVA HVA
