CHANDIGARH: With an aim to further enhance the reach of farm mechanisation to the farmers of the state as desired by Chief Minister S. Bhagwant Singh Mann, Punjab Agriculture and Farmers Welfare department has invited applications from farmers for availing subsidy on various agriculture machineries under the Sub Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM) scheme. The subsidy worth Rs 21 crore will be given to the beneficiary farmers through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT).
Disclosing this here today, Punjab Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister S. Gurmeet Singh Khudian informed that interested farmers can apply by logging in at the department’s portal agrimachinerypb.com by August 13, 2024 to avail the benefits of the scheme. He said that the subsidy is being provided on the purchase of Pneumatic Planter, Potato Planter (Automatic/ Semi-Automatic), Potato Digger, Paddy Transplanter, DSR Seed Drill, Rotavator, Tractor Operated Boom Sprayer, PTO Operated Bund Former, Oil Mill, Mini Processing Plant, Nursery Seeder and Forage Harvester.
Divulging the details of the scheme, S. Gurmeet Singh Khudian said that individual farmers, farmer groups, Cooperative Societies, Panchayats and FPOs can avail 40 per cent subsidy on the purchase of above mentioned machines, while, individual SC farmers, women farmers, small & marginal farmers will get 50 percent subsidy.
While appealing to the farmers to take maximum advantage of the scheme, he said that by adopting mechanisation, farmers can increase their income and it would also go a long way to promote water saving techniques, crop diversification and MSMEs in the agricultural sector. He also directed the department officials to ensure complete transparency in the whole process.
The Agriculture Minister said that the farmers could visit Agriculture Offices of their respective districts for more information in this regard. He further stated that the Chief Minister S. Bhagwant Singh Mann led Punjab Government has been working tirelessly to promote agriculture-diversification and mechanisation in the state and the Agriculture department has been actively working on a strategy to boost the initiative of providing state-of-the-art machineries to the farmers at subsidised rates to further increase the income of farmers.