हिंदी
Gurdaspur, September 9 2021 To update with the ground reality, a series of meetings with the farmers have been started by the Director Horticulture Punjab, Sh. Gulab Singh Gill with the farmers of Punjab State. After meeting with the farmers of district Patiala and Fatehgarh Sahib districts, a meeting with the farmers of district Gurdaspur was held on 08-09-2021 at the Office of Deputy Director Horticulture, Gurdaspur. 20 progressive farmers have participated in this meeting.
Firstly, Director Horticulture welcomed all the participants and appprised them the purpose of meeting. He further said that the Department of Horticulture is committed to bring the diversification in view of fastly decreasing ground water table in the state. He said that being less water guzzling crops horticulture crops are better alternative of traditional crops for diversification. After that, the farmers raised their issues one by one. Subsidy required for fencing of orchards and farms to avoid the damage of stray animals and for replacement of polysheet, shade net, drip irrigation after 5 years of establishment of unit are major demands of the farmers from the district. They also demanded to revive the departmental scheme of supplying plastic crates and agrochemicals to the farmers so that they can get quality crates and agrochemicals on nominal prices. Farmers of district Gurdaspur requested for financial assistance for planting material & packaging material of Litchi. To get rid from the higher electricity bills, farmers requested that similar for agriculture crops their commercial electricity connection needs to be converted to A.P. connection for mushroom units and poly hose units which can boost the diversification further. After listening the issues of the farmers, Director Horticulture assured that the issues in purview of the Department shall be addressed at the earliest whereas, the issues beyond the purview of the Department shall be sent to the Punjab Govt. for consideration and their suitable solutions. He appealed the farmers for self marketing, group marketing and marketing by making FPOs so that they can get more profit of their produce. He urged the farmers to produce safe to eat fruits and vegetables by using the fertilizers and pesticides judiciously. On this day, Director Horticulture also visited the Govt. Garden and Nursery, Gurdaspur, Govt. Potato Sedd Farm Gurdaspur and Sohal and issued necessary instructions for the upgradation of nursery to produce a greater number of quality fruit plants. On the occasion, Sh. Tajinder Singh Deputy Director Horticulture, Gurdaspur, Sh Navdeep Singh Horticulture Development Officer, Sh Bikramjit Singh Horticulture Development Officer and Sh Harpreet Singh Mattu Horticulture Development Officer of districts Gurdaspur were present.
