In a bid to help the state’s distressed potato farmers, Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has ordered release of Rs 5 crore for providing freight subsidy to the producers for marketing their crop out of Punjab.
Announcing a series of measures to support the potato farmers, the Chief Minister has directed the Department of Agriculture to take all possible steps to help the potato growers in realizing better prices of their crop.
He has also ordered the concerned department to initiate steps for export of potato crop, with the help of the freight subsidy which his government would be releasing to the Punjab Agro Industries Corporation.
The Chief Minister, who has already asked the departments of school education and jails to purchase potatoes directly from the farmers for use in preparing mid-day meals and Anganvadi meals respectively, expressed concern over the plight of the potato growers, who were also suffering as a result of the Centre’s failure to help out the farming community.
