Punjab disburses Rs 19.83 crore to farmers opting for direct seeding of rice

Chandigarh, Jan 5: The Punjab government has transferred Rs 19.83 crore into bank accounts of 17,007 farmers who opted Direct Seeding Rice (DSR) in the Kharif season, state Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian said on Friday.

He said 19,114 farmers have registered 172,049 acres on the DSR portal during 2023-24 and 18,931 farmers and 133,745.67 acres under DSR were verified.

Khudian said the government has been encouraging farmers to adopt DSR to save ground water. The government had announced an incentive amount of Rs 1,500 per acre for the farmers who would sow paddy directly (without transplanting).

Now, this amount has been transferred to nearly 99 per cent of farmers’ accounts through DBT, he added.