While presiding over the 'CII Himachal Apple Conclave-2018' organized by Confederation of Indian Industry here today, Governor Acharya Devvrat said that development of the country was related to the growth of the farmers and when the farming community would get the remunerative prices for their products, cost of production decreases and the product so produced would be better in terms of health, then we could say that the development is moving in right direction.“By adopting chemicals farming, fertility of soil is decreasing while cost of production has increased and even the the Government of India was granting subsidy of upto Rs. 70 thousand crore on urea only and to increase production, farmers are applying heavy chemicals in the form of poison in their fields and this is not the right way of development”, said Acharya Devvrat.He added that history of Indian agriculture was the oldest in the world and chemical cultivation was only about 40 years old. He added that near about 15 to 16 chemical sprays were done on apple fruit and same process was applying in other food products, vegetables and fruits and in this way, the fruit that we talk about being healthy becomes the cause of the various diseases. Such practice should be stopped and there was a need to reflect on this, he said.The Governor said that the campaign for Zero Budget Natural Farming has been started in Himachal Pradesh and the State Government has made a budget provision of Rs. 25 crore for the promotion of natural farming in the State. He said that under this, farmer’s camps were being organized across the state and added that similar training camps would be organized at Rohru in Shimla district on 5 and 6 August, where Padmashree Dr. Subhash Palekar, who is the creator of ZBNF, would provide the traing to the farmers. He said that every possible effort would be made to make Himachal Pradesh a Natural Farming State by 2022.
Acharya Devvrat appreciated the efforts of the CII in promoting natural farming and urged them to associate with this campaign so that farmers and horticulturist could be widely benefited. He hoped that during the conclave, various problems and challenges related to the horticulture would be discussed, which would have meaningful results.Principal Secretary, Industry and Horticulture Shri R.D. Dhiman gave detailed information of various schemes and programs being implemented by the State Government in the field of horticulture on this occasion. He said that in the present perspective, the Zero Budget Natural Farming was need of hour and added that the horticulturists of the state were progressive and aware and would definitely work in this direction. He also gave information related to high density plantation, package of practices being done at Government level and said that the State Government was providing 80 percent subsidy on anti-haillnets for which a provision of Rs 10 crore has been made. In addition, establishing primary processing units were being promoted in the state, he added.Earlier, Shri Harish Agrawal, Vice President, CII Himachal Pradesh State Council welcomed the Governor and detailed about various activities of the Council.On this occasion, the State Level Coordinator of Indian Oil Corporation Shri Anil Kumar also welcomed the Governor and briefed about the works being done towards the direction of social obligations by the Corporation.