Deputy Commissioner's Initiative On Crop Diversification Starts Bearing Fruits

Ludhiana, April 27, 2016: Deputy Commissioner Mr Ravi Bhagat's unique initiative regarding crop diversification has started bearing fruits as Rajmah (kidney bean) crop has been introduced to the farmers of Ludhiana district and at present, it has been sown in 28 acres of land in dozen odd villages of the district. Initially this crop has been sown on trial basis, but eventually the Agriculture Department plans to bring more area under this crop.
Additional Chief Sectary Mr Suresh Kumar, who visited one such farm at village Bhadla Neecha near Khanna, today appreciated Mr Ravi Bhagat's efforts and assured that this crop would be introduced to the farmers across the state on a large scale.
Chief Agriculture Officer Mr Sukhpal Singh Sekhon said that Rajmah crop is very profitable for the farmers as with an input cost of around Rs 10,000 per acre, the farmers can easily earn a profit of around 40,000 per acre from one crop, which takes only 90 days to get ready. Most of the Rajmah is at present imported from China and other countries and more than 80 percent of it is consumed in Punjab alone. So if this crop is sown in Punjab itself, it would prove very beneficial for the farmers of state.
In Ludhiana district, around 28 acres is sown at present, which includes 11 acre at village Bhadla Neecha, 8 acre at Sherpur Kalan near Jagraon and the remaining at villages Dhilwan, Shamaspur, Dyalpura, Aandlu, Seh, Sahibpura, Bahadarke and Bassian.
While providing information, Mr Ravi Bhagat said that the idea about introducing Rajmah crop in Punjab stuck his mind during his tenure as Deputy Commissioner Amritsar. "We started this crop on trial basis from one kanal of land and in a period of three years, now 650 acres of this crop is sown in Amritsar district alone, out of which 70 acres is sown in village Manawala alone," said the Deputy Commissioner.
He said that in 2013, it was sown on merely one marla land, in 2014 on 7.5 acres, in 2015 on 50 acres and at present it is being sown on more than 650 acres of land. Mr Bhagat said that the Rajmah sown in Punjab is rich in Vitamin K and its consumption helps in prevention of Cancer disease. He said that very little water is required to irrigate this crop, which helps in checking depleting groundwater table as well.
It is pertinent to mention that now this crop is also being sown in districts such as Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur, Pathankot and others, and the area under this crop is increasing day by day. The best time to sow this crop is in last week of January or first week of February and it gets ready by first week of May. The Deputy Commissioner said that once ready, it gets sold easily and there is not much need of marketing.
Additional Chief Secretary Mr Suresh Kumar appreciated the efforts of Mr Ravi Bhagat and said that the state government would soon moot a proposal in which 50 percent subsidy would be provided to farmers on the seed of Rajmah crop. He said that more farmers should come forward and adopt this particular crop as it helps in checking underground water table and also increases soil fertility. He said that this crop would also help in the success of Punjab government's initiative of crop diversification.