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From an arid zone to land of orchards

BATHINDA: Once known as land of sand dunes in Punjab, where the scarcity of waters was a perennial problem as a large tract of agriculture land was situated at the tail end of canals, this district in the Malwa belt has now emerged as the `land of orchards'.

Horticulture is now attracting farmers, entrepreneurs, small investors and trades here and the area under horticulture has increased to 3417 hectare this year from 3106 hectare last year. Though the shortage of irrigation water is still a big problem using drip and sprinkler irrigation system from the water storage tanks constructed to store the canal and rain water, the farmers have turned this arid area into an important horticulture belt of the country.

Giving details Deputy Director of horticulture department Gurkewal Singh Dhillon said that grapes and `kinnow' are two varieties of fruit which are popular amongst the farmers of this area. Grapes, cover around 687 hectares in the district while a major portion of the area under horticulture is covered by kinnows. Apart from the increasing stress by the state governments to diversify, the farmers also face a major marketing problem.

At times of bumper crop and in absence of any proper storage facility, the farmers are forced to sell their produce at throw away prices.

A wine-manufacturing unit was established at Kot Shamir village near Bathinda in 1994 for the promotion of kinnow and grapes but the unit could not take off successfully due to various reasons.

Some time back, Punjab Agro-Industrial Corporation (PAIC) had set up a pre-cooling unit for grapes growers at Talwandi Sabo but this unit was also closed after sometime.

According to Punjab Young Farmers Federation President Amritpal Singh Sidhu, there is no proper marketing network for kinnow and grapes in the area and the profits are being pocketed by the middlemen.--UNI

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