Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has said that the present state government was making consorted efforts to position Himachal Pradesh as number one natural farming state in the country. While presiding over a meeting of the Agriculture department here today, he said that the department should work meticulously in this direction and the state government would provide all out support to the department.
He directed to establish a distinct marketing wing in the Agriculture department to provide market linkages to the naturally grown produces. He also instructed to explore the possibilities of selling these natural produces on the digital marketing platforms.
The Chief Minister said that presently 2,56,870 farmers have undertaken natural farming practices in 44784.73 hectares of land and with the introduction of new initiatives by the present state government, the number of farmers was increasing significantly.
He said that the farmers, who have abandoned farming were also coming back and showing their interest in natural farming. He said that Himachal Pradesh was the first state in the country, who offered minimum support prices for the naturally grown crops.
He said that the state government had made a major increase in MSP for naturally grown crops. Wheat cultivated through natural farming was now being procured at Rs. 80 per kilogram, maize at Rs. 50 per kilogram, raw turmeric at Rs. 150 per kilogram, barley from Pangi Valley at Rs. 80 per kilogram and ginger at Rs. 30 per kilogram.
Sh. Sukhu said that following the implementation of the MSP for milk by the state government, there has been a continuous increase in milk production and farmer's participation in the cooperative dairy system across the state. The government had made a historical increase in the MSP on cow milk from Rs. 32 to Rs. 61 per litre and on buffalo milk from Rs. 47 to Rs. 71 per litre.
The primary objective of the MSP initiative was to ensure that its benefits were not limited to a small number of producers but reach a wider section of dairy farmers, particularly small and marginal farmers. He said that the government had disbursed Rs. 300 crore among the milk producers in the state during the last three and a half years.
The Chief Minister asked the Agriculture department to complete codal formalities for declaring Bara Bhangal of Kangra district as natural panchayat for growing natural crops. He also instructed to apply for geographical indication (GI) tag for Rajmah grown in Bara Bhangal area.
He said that state government was committed to strengthen the economy of the farmers and there was no dearth of money for supporting farmers for natural farming. Agriculture Minister Chander Kumar, Secretary Agriculture C. Paulrasu, Secretary to Chief Minister Ashish Singhmar, Managing Director H.P. State Agriculture Marketing Board Ram Kumar Gautam and other senior officers of Agriculture department were also present in the meeting.