Punjab To Offer 24,000 Crop Residue Management Machines Says Punjab Agriculture Minister

Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian announced on Wednesday that the Punjab Agriculture Department plans to distribute 24,000 crop residue management machines during the upcoming harvest season in order to reduce incidents of stubble burning in the state.

Khudian stated that the department has received a remarkable 158,394 applications from farmers requesting subsidies for Crop Residue Management (CRM) machinery. He also mentioned that the department will offer a variety of equipment, including Super SMS, happy seeder, paddy straw chopper, mulcher, smart seeder, zero till drill, surface seeder, super seeder, crop reaper, shrub master for on-site residue management (blending crop residue in fields), as well as baler and straw rake for off-site residue management (utilizing stubble as fuel) of the paddy residue.

In the past year, there was a 30 percent reduction in incidents of stubble burning in the state, as reported by Khudian. The department has devised a Rs 350 crore action plan for providing Crop Residue Management (CRM) machinery subsidies for the upcoming 2023 Kharif season.

To ensure transparency and simplify the subsidy application process, applications were invited through an online portal. Khudian also mentioned in a statement that the agriculture department is actively working to establish custom hiring centers in every block, where CRM machinery will be accessible to small and marginal farmers.

He noted that the state government is granting an 80 percent subsidy for setting up these custom hiring centers when purchasing CRM machines, and individual farmers can avail of a 50 percent subsidy.