Chandigarh, 26 March –Punjab Chief Minister Mr Bhagwant Mann on Saturday said farmers incurring any loss from a natural disaster in future would be duly compensated prior to completion of assessment (Girdawari).
Addressing a gathering during a function organised to distribute compensation to farmers who have lost their crop due to Pink worm attack, the CM said it is unfortunate that food growers get the compensation after a long and troublesome process of assessment of crop loss.

He said this will be reversed and now farmers will get compensation prior to assessment as already being done in Delhi. Mann said this will be instrumental in saving the undue harassment  of farmers for getting compensation after a cumbersome process.
The CM said in Malwa belt farmers had lost their cotton crop not because of attack by white and pink worm, but it was the supply of poor quality seeds and pesticides that was chiefly responsible for this huge loss.
He announced a thorough enquiry will be conducted in this regard and strict action will be taken against those who had supplied these spurious seeds and pesticides to farmers.

Mann said the real culprits for loss of farmers was not attack of white or pink worm but it the was the then government which supplied poor seeds and pesticides to farmers.

The CM said if the then government had performed its duty well and ensured supply of good seeds and pesticides then  the farmers would not have faced such hardships. He said meagre compensation after such a whopping loss rubs salt into the wounds of the farmers.
Mann said the successive governments have turned the food growers of the country into beggars, who have to face a lot of exploitation to get compensation for their losses.
Promising to make agriculture a profitable venture, the CM said the state government is holding parleys with the experts of various universities so as to introduce new technology for motivating the farmers to cultivate high profit yielding varieties of crops.
He said agriculture is the backbone of Punjab’s economy and the state government will leave no stone unturned to make it a profit making occupation. Mann said budgetary provision will be made to provide funds to Agriculture University for new research and high quality seeds of various crops.

He said for producing one kilogram of rice 3800 litres of water of state is wasted and urged farmers to revert back to harvest less water guzzling crops as the fertile land of Punjab can produce any crop.

In 2021, due to the pink worm attack farmers suffered huge losses in the cotton belt of the state but they had not got compensation. In Mansa district alone 1.36 lakh acre crop of  56372 farmers was destroyed due to attack and now these farmers have been compensated worth Rs 231 crore at Rs 17000 per acre.