SAD spokesperson Daljit Singh Cheema. (Twitter/@Akali_Dal_)Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Sunday demanded CM Bhagwant Mann announce a compensation of Rs 20,000 per acre to farmers whose paddy fields had been infested with Southern rice black streaked dwarf virus commonly referred to as dwarfing disease.
In a statement here, former minister Daljit Singh Cheema said in many districts of the State dwarfing disease had spread across twenty to twenty five percent of fields and was likely to result in a drop in paddy yield by at least ten quintals per acre. “The government must step in and compensate farmers for this loss,” he added.
Cheema said “at some places the dwarfing disease had completely overtaken the paddy fields as in the case of Nurpurbedi in Ropar district where farmers had ploughed standing paddy fields. Huge losses due to dwarfing disease will be a catastrophe for farmers who are still coming to terms with a loss if wheat yields to a sudden increase in temperatures in March this year as well as subsequent losses sustained in sowing Moong crop which was not procured despite promises made by the chief minister”.
Asserting that this could be the “proverbial last straw for many farmers who were already under debt”, Cheema asked the chief minister to “intervene immediately and announce a comprehensive compensation package for the affected farmers”