Punjab farmers set to grow pulses, oilseeds in Ethiopia

A group of Punjab-based farmers today said that they are going to grow pulses and oilseeds on 5,000 hectares of land in Ethiopia and import their farm produce to India.

“We will start cultivating 5,000 hectares of land in Ethiopia from September this year and plan to cultivate pulses, oilseeds, sugarcane and maize which are always in short supply in India,” the Confederation of Potato Seed Farmers (Poscon) Secretary General, Mr Jang Bahadur Singh Sangha, said here today. Additionally, the group wants the government to exempt their farm produce in Ethiopia from duty when imported to India in order to curtail country's dependence on import of such farm products.

“By bringing crops like pulses, oilseeds to India, we will help the country in making it self-sufficient in these crops and ensure food security,” Mr Sangha asserted.

Govt help sought

They also want either the Union Minister of Agriculture or Ministry of External Affairs to support them in this endeavour by patronising the farming agreements.

Citing farming in Ethiopia as a ‘workable' venture, 15 members of Poscon, the representative body of the State's potato growers, have shown keen interest in cultivating land there, he added.

Mr Sangha said, “I have already visited Ethiopia twice along with other members of our association and found huge tracts of land available there. Farming conditions (in Ethiopia) are also similar to what we have in India.”