‘Learning accounts should be priority for farmers’

Ludhiana:With the intent to help farmers to maintain their accounts a NGO Acal is encouraging farmers to do away with the traditional ‘Vai Khata’ forms, the ngo has distributed forms duirng the kisan mela held recently. A slogan coined, ‘kisan bachao, khushali lao,’ is also a motibve that the director reserach of the ngo Harbans Singh Sraon has been working toward.
They have already distributed over 1000 forms. Speaking from his experience, Harbans said , `` Farmers are not maintaining any budget and not realising the expenses and as a consequence they are not keeping up with incomes and losses and 86% farmers are in debt. I feel that farming should be treated as business and they should maintain credit and debits. This accounting and marketing revolution should be done immediately.’’ Most of the farmers he maintained do not have any awareness about this and it was the lack of this awareness that most farmers were in debt. If they have no incomes, then they can also adopt alternative crops by paddy acreage. He said educating teh farmers was also a task hence they should be told about options beyond direct seeding, usage of urea in excess that it is being dissolved with nitrates in soil . Jatinder Mohan Singh from Department of Economics, PAU said, ``We are teaching them to prepare budgets for crops. Framers having land and livestock are told to prepare farm map and whatsoever crop is sowing according to season in how many acres. How much a farmer is investing and output, difference remains the gross return. It is difficult for them to fill it as it is laborious work for them, if farmers collect expenses on fertilizers on daily basis.Only selected farmers are recording the data with the help of district extension specialist or only agricultural economists at Krishi Vigyan Kendra.’’
Harbans who is from USA said , ‘` Beyond this , they should follow the techniques used in USA, farmers should follow direct plantation which will not only save the water but also their labour cost.’’ Speaking to TOI he said that farmers of Punjab are the real hero , they should not protest against government but they should go for saving our environment. In a meeting with secretary of Agriculture Punjab welfare, they have been assured that accounting was a priority and it would be promoted.