Punjab looks for ways to diversify into new crops

A brain-storming session was held here today to find out ways to encourage farmers to make a shift from traditional crops to value-added crops like pulses, oilseeds and vegetables. Ashok Gulati from the US-based International Food Policy Research Institute presented a paper on ‘‘Challenges to Punjab Agriculture in a Globalising World’’ at the session.

Punjab Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh, who was present, said that the agro-processing industry could play a catalytic role in bringing about a change. ‘‘It can help accelerate the pace of diversification of agriculture and thereby improve the welfare of small and marginal farmers of the state,’’ he said. He urged leading players in the agro-processing industry to set up their industrial units in Punjab.

He said his government was committed to providing integral marketing facilities to the farmers and encouraging cooperative institutions to build collective farming and marketing systems.

Some of the suggestions floated at the session were that farmers be encouraged to switch over to wheat products like dalia, maida, suji, biscuits and pasta from wheat, given incentive to produce soya and maize for livestock industry and other soya products like soya milk, tofu and soya chops.