Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India], July 4 : Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has said that the present state government was making concerted efforts to position the state as the number one natural farming state in the country.
While presiding over a meeting of the Agriculture department here on Saturday, 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 the establishment of a distinct marketing wing in the Agriculture department to provide market linkages to the naturally grown produce.
He also instructed to explore the possibilities of selling these natural products 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 is 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 to offer minimum support prices for the naturally grown crops.
CM Sukhu 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.
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 farmers' 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 reached 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 a natural panchayat for growing natural crops.
He also instructed to apply for a geographical indication (GI) tag for Rajmah grown in the Bara Bhangal area.
He said that the state government was committed to strengthening 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 HP State Agriculture Marketing Board Ram Kumar Gautam and other senior officers of the Agriculture department were also present in the meeting.