Punjab’s farm practices inspire others

A good percentage of farmers in Punjab use farming equipment like laser levellers,turbo happy seeders and zero tillers,which cut down on labour costs and also increase efficiency in farming practices. The equipment is made available through two channels — cooperative societies of farmers,and private entrepreneurs who have created ‘equipment bank’ and rent out modern machinery to farmers based on need.

Dr M L Jat,Senior Cropping Systems Agronomist with The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT),told The Indian Express that all developing regions could benefit from the Punjab model. “Through our CSISA (Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia) project,we are working in seven states — Punjab,Haryana,Uttar Pradesh,Bihar,Tamil Nadu,Karnataka and West Bengal. We also have hubs in Pakistan,Bangladesh and Nepal. Everywhere,we have been promoting Punjab’s experience. Our focus is to create farmers’ cooperative societies and single-window services through private entrepreneurs for machinery and related agricultural inputs like seed and fertilisers.”

CSISA is financed by the Bill Gates Foundation and USAID. Director Agriculture Dr B S Sidhu said the farmers’ cooperatives had turned out to be an excellent experiment in Punjab. “We started the project in 2008,and 919 societies are now operational. We gave 33 per cent subsidy (with a maximum limit of Rs 3.3 lakh) to these societies for purchasing farm machinery,in which laser levellers,rotavators and zero tillers were compulsory. Farmers with less than 10 acres could also avail the subsidy,to rent out these machines to other farmers. Many states have appreciated this model. Recently,a team from Tamil Nadu came to study our pattern,” he said.

The other Punjab model being promoted by CSISA is the equipment bank started by private entrepreneurs. A team of senior scientists of CIMMYT recently visited the equipment bank of Zamindara Farmsolutions (ZFS) in Fazilka. Its director Vikram Ahuja said: “Participants from Bangladesh,Nepal and Uzbekistan saw how the equipment bank helps small and marginal farmers to hire sophisticated machinery for farm tilling,sowing and harvesting.”

Dr Jat said an effort was now being made to promote such single-window service providers in other states of the country,and other countries in Asia,too. “All farmers cannot afford such expensive machines. Equipment banks in the cooperative or the private sector bring down their costs and also promote better agricultural practices,” he said.