Good progress in maize cultivation along with cotton in Punjab

11-Jun-2025 08:37 PM

Chandigarh. It appears that the Punjab government may get good success in its crop diversification scheme during the current Kharif season.

The cotton production area in the state has already increased by 20 percent from 2.49 lakh acres last year to 2.98 lakh acres this time and its sowing campaign is almost over.

Similarly, in the first nine days of the current month in the state, the maize production area has improved to above 54,000 acres, which is being considered quite satisfactory.

The Agriculture Minister of Punjab has said that under a pilot project, farmers in Bathinda, Sangrur, Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Jalandhar and Kapurthala districts who will cultivate maize instead of paddy during Kharif season will be given financial incentives at the rate of Rs 17,500 per hectare.

The objective of this project is to increase the maize area in these districts to 12,000 hectares so that water can be saved. Farmers have also been promised to buy maize at the minimum support price. 200 Kisan Mitras have been appointed in Punjab to guide and encourage the producers.

As far as cotton is concerned, its production area reached the highest in Fazilka at 60,121 hectares, followed by 27,621 hectares in Mansa district, 17,080 hectares in Bathinda district and 13,240 hectares in Muktsar district. Cotton is cultivated in eight districts of Malwa division of Punjab.

The state government has decided to give 33 percent subsidy to farmers on the purchase of cotton seeds. For this, farmers are being registered. So far, more than 49 thousand farmers have registered themselves for this subsidy, the period of which has been fixed till June 15.