The government of Punjab is set to offer subsidies to the farmers in the state so they can set up specialty hiring facilities and buy a variety of agricultural equipment.
The state's farmers can register for the subsidy online at agrimachinerypb.com by February 28 for individual applications as well as to establish specialized hiring centers, according to Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, minister of agriculture and farmers’ welfare.
According to government sources, this step has been taken to promote agricultural machinery in the state under the Sub Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM) scheme. Under this scheme, farmers can receive subsidies on machines both directly from the government and through private hire facilities, panchayats, cooperatives, rural business owners, farmer-producer organizations (FPOs), registered farmer groups, etc.
The expense of machines for various types of Custom Hiring Centers falling within the price ranges of 10 lakhs, 25 lakhs, 40 lakhs, and 60 lakhs would be subsidized. 40 percent for the general category, 50 percent for specialty components, and 40 percent for custom hiring sites will be the subsidy rates.
Dhaliwal told the reporters on Monday the state's farmers and various farming-related organizations to use subsidies on the purchase of equipment and embrace mechanization in agriculture, claiming that doing so would increase farmers' income. For more information, he advised producers to speak with their district chief agriculture officer.
Earlier, Partap Singh Bajwa, the leader of the opposition (LoP) in Punjab, criticized the Aam Aadmi Party administration on Saturday for failing to provide the farmers in Punjab with the necessary electricity to irrigate their wheat crop.
In a statement, Bajwa said the unseasonably high temperatures this year have necessitated farmers increasing the regularity of light irrigation of wheat in order to shield it from the damaging effects of rising temperatures.
