Chandigarh : Punjab Government on Saturday announced assistance of Rs 1,500 per acre of land to farmers for the direct seeding of paddy. Taking to Twitter, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said, "Today government has decided to give Rs 1,500 per acre assistance to every farmer doing direct cultivation of paddy. My appeal to farmer colleagues - Inspire your friends and relatives to do direct cultivation of paddy. This will increase the yield of paddy and we have to save the water of the soil of Punjab." Notably, in direct seeding of paddy cultivation, pre-germinated seeds are directly drilled into the field. In this method of cultivation, flooding of fields is not done during sowing which saves water. Plus, this method of paddy cultivation is less labour-intensive.