Punjab farmers ready to go to Brazil: Sukhbir Badal

CHANDIGARH - Farmers from Punjab are ready to go to Brazil to help in the development of the agriculture sector in the South American country, state deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has said.

Badal, who is visiting Brazil these days as part of a central delegation led by union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, said Punjab farmers had proved that they were very progressive and despite the state having a small geographical area compared to bigger states in India, Punjab was leading in foodgrains production.

Badal said this during a presentation on the scope of agriculture in Brazil made during the delegation’s visit to Brasillia, the capital of Brazil.

The Brazil delegation had earlier invited Punjab farmers to avail the opportunity of converting low-cost non-productive scrub lands available in Brazil into highly productive farm lands, a Punjab government spokesman said here Friday.

Badal said the farmers of Punjab were ready to come to Brazil to contribute further in the development of agriculture provided suitable and enabling environment, in terms of availability of land on long-term lease, was created by the Brazilians.

He said enterprising Punjab farmers had made India self-sufficient on the food security front by making the “Green Revolution” a success story. Punjab farmers had replicated these success stories in Australia, Canada and the United States besides other countries, he added.

During the presentation, chief executive officer of “Vision Brazil” Gustavo Ahrends said Brazil is gifted with huge agricultural lands, adequate rainfall, water resources and stable temperature and weather conditions. Another presentation was made on how Brazil has made a turnaround on the sugarcane-production front.