Chandigarh, March 12 (IANS) The Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab, Vikramjit Singh Sahney, on Wednesday unveiled a report that talked about crop diversification.
The report, 'Punjab Vision -- A Blueprint for Progress', recommended inclusion of millets in the Mid-Day Meal in schools and providing millets in the government’s 5-kg ration scheme.
“Punjab should create and promote Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology for sustainable crop diversification and should set up AI-driven chatbox to assist farmers,” Sahney told the media here.
On agriculture processing, Sahney said there is an urgent need for setting up of food processing parks, preferably through multipurpose cooperative societies in a cluster of villages with storage and processing facilities, oil extraction, flour mills, processing and packing of spices, pulses, honey, mushrooms, etc.
Sahney also emphasised the need for organic farming with institutions like MARKFED and Punjab Agro providing market linkages.
He proposed setting up of crop-specific clusters like pulses, oil seeds, cotton in the Malwa region, sugarcane in the Doaba region, maize in Hoshiarpur, diary development in Kapurthala, floriculture in Ludhiana, litchi in Pathankot and chillies in Ferozepur.
On trade and industry, Sahney said Punjab must establish robust industrial zones and revamp focal points in Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Mohali and Amritsar.
He said the industrial zone in Rajpura should start operations within this year.
Sahney said the skill training of the youth is key to save lives and livelihoods.
He gave details of five world-class skill centres being set up by him and 10 ITIs adopted by him.
Expressing concern over the depleting water table and the presence of arsenic and other harmful substances in the water, he said, “We must adopt direct-seeded rice along with a micro irrigation system”.
The MP demanded that Punjab should get immediate funds under the Atal Bhujal Yojana for water conservation as the state meets all criteria of the scheme.
