ITC to purchase pepper after meeting with Chilli Cluster in Ferozepur

Published on: 29 Jun 2023 at 11:03 AM

Published by: thefactnews

The Fact News Service

Ferozepur, June 29

Now, ITC will procure pepper in Ferozepur after holding a meeting with Chilli Cluster.

Ramandeep Singh Mann Agri Policy Expert and Ravdeep Kaur In-charge, AIF, under the leadership of ITC Limited officials held a meeting with the members of Chilli cluster regarding the purchase of pepper.

Ramandeep Singh Mann said that ITC Ltd. procures most of the dry red chillies from Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. Now the company has decided to purchase pepper from district Ferozepur considering the quality of pepper.

He said that to increase the income of farmers and encourage crop diversification by the Punjab government, Horticulture Minister Chetan Singh Jouramajra Chili Cluster Development Program was initiated by Chetan Singh Jaudamajra on March 17, under Phase-I of the project to further promote the cultivation of pepper in the district.

During this program, the horticulture department provided technical information from field to marketing to the selected pepper growers. As a result, the amount of pesticides and fungicides in the pepper samples taken from the farmer’s fields was found to be less than the maximum residue level. The members of the Chilli cluster decided to market themselves to get more profit from the red dry chilli, as a result of which the farmers are earning good profit.

Speaker Punjab Vidhan Sabha Kultar Singh Sandhwa also made frequent visits to the Chilli cluster and the difficulties faced by the pepper growers were resolved on the spot. They were constantly trying to deliver the produce of the farmers directly to the factory so that the landlord could get the right price for pepper.

He said that the Chili Cluster Development Program which was started by the Punjab Government under the Phase-1 of Project Force is now showing good results. The area under pepper cultivation is likely to increase in the future which will contribute greatly to increasing farmers’ income and promoting crop diversification.

All the four MLAs from Ferozepur – Ranbir Bhullar, Ferozepur Urban, Rajnish Dahiya, Ferozepur Rural, Fauja Singh Sarari, Guruharshai, Naresh Kataria, Zira – thanked Speaker, Kultar Singh Sandhawan and Minister of Horticulture, Chetan Singh Jaudamajra, for this initiative which will greatly benefit the farmers of the border area.