While addressing the gathering at the fruit festival mela organised at the subtropical fruit centre in Ladwa in Kurushetra, Haryna Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister Shyam Singh Rana has asked the Farmers to adopt natural farming as state government’s has set a goal of growing crops through natural farming on 1 lakh acre land in Haryana. Not only this, but he also asserted that the state government has formed a grain market in Gurugram to endorse the purchase of crops grown using natural farming methods.
At present, natural farming is being practiced on 10,000 acres, and this number is frequently increasing. Furthermore, he added that a laboratory has also been established in the market to detect the quality of the produced output. Once the quality is assessed, a committee will determine the price and purchase the crop accordingly. Apart from this, he applauded 10 progressive farmers from the horticulture sector with some cash, a trophy, and a certificate of appreciation.
Additionally, he informed about subtropical fruit centre in Ladwa that was established in 2016 under Indo-Israel technology. Currently, the centre prepares 1 lakh saplings annually for distribution to farmers that has began with 10,000 saplings. Research is also being conducted on six crops including mango, litchi, pear, peach and Chikoo. Rana added that 17 such centres will be built in the state out of which 11 have already completed. Sub-centres for litchi in Ambala and for strawberries in Yamunanagar will be built soon with the aim of increasing farmers’ income and encouraging them to switch from traditional farming. Moreover, he highlighted the need for farmers to shift from wheat and paddy cultivation to horticulture, fisheries, beekeeping, dairy farming, and other sectors.
Rana also underscored numerous schemes of the government for the benefit of the farmers and asserted that under the Bhavantar Bharpai Yojana, if farmers get a price below the MSP in the market, the government compensates the difference to secure farmers benefit.