DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

Punjab Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister S. Gurmeet Singh Khudian stated that there has been a significant 44% increase in the area dedicated to Direct Seeding of Rice (DSR) compared to last year. The acreage sown using the water-conserving DSR technique has risen to over 2.48 lakh acres, up from 1.72 lakh acres during the Kharif season of 2023. Sri Muktsar Sahib district topped the state using the DSR method.

The Agriculture Minister further shared that a whopping 78,468 acres have been sown using this water-saving technique in Sri Muktsar Sahib district, leading the way, followed by Fazilka (75,824 acres), Amritsar (17,913 acres), Ferozepur (17,644 acres), and Bathinda (12,760 acres).

He said that Chief Minister S. Bhagwant Singh Mann led Punjab Government has been offering Rs. 1500 per acre as a financial assistance to motivate farmers to choose the DSR method over traditional paddy transplanting. A substantial amount of Rs. 20.33 crores was disbursed to 17,116 farmers to support the adoption of DSR during the FY 2023-24. The state government has earmarked Rs. 50 crores to incentivize farmers for embracing DSR during the FY 2024-25.

Gurmeet Singh Khudian further said that 24,120 farmers have registered 2.48 lakh acres of land on the DSR portal till date. The Agriculture department's field officials are diligently verifying the farmers and their DSR-registered land. Once the verification is complete, the incentive amount will be directly credited to the farmers' accounts through DBT, making it a seamless process for the beneficiaries, he added.
(editor@dailyworld.in)