Border farmers told to cash in on cash crops
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09/06/2008
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Indian Express (Chandigarh)
Chak Bala, June 08 Farmers whose thousands of acres of fertile land falls across the barbed fence at the International Border expressed their anguish during a training-cum-awareness camp organised by the Agriculture Department here yesterday. During an interaction with the farmers, Deputy Commissioner K S Pannu said he found that farmers could reap only one crop in a year and that too at the mercy of the rain god and stray animals from Pakistan that ravage their fields. The farmers, however, saw a ray of hope when the Agriculture Department told them about crop diversification and asked them to take to cash crops, which demand little care, water and are not destroyed by wild animals. "The land is not fully utilised due to the shortage of water, power and invasion of stray animals,' said Pannu, adding that the aim of the camp was to make the farmers aware of the latest machinery and new techniques for diversification. "We face many problems. The entry to our land is restricted. The delay in issuance of identity cards by the Border Security Force (BSF) to cross electrified barbed fence is another challenge,' said Sukhbir Singh, a farmer from Shahpur village. Jasbir Singh, former sarpanch of Lakhowal village, said they could take only one crop of wheat in a year as the land was inaccessible for the better part of the year. "Over 3,000 acres of land across the barbed fence is fertile. The farmers here are poor and not aware of the latest technology or the cash crops that can change their lot,' said Pannu. "If they adopt the machinery and cash crops, many of their problems will be solved,' said Chief Agriculture Officer Paramjit Singh Sandhu. Farmers demanded that the government must provide electricity connections for tubewells. "Hundreds of applications are pending with the Punjab State Electricity Board,' said Satnam Singh, another farmer. "The per-acre yield here is low. But the Agriculture Department experts told us how to adopt ways to get higher yield,' said Jasbir, adding that they learnt how to use roto-motor and drill machines for the easy and mechanised tilling.