By Our Staff Reporter
HARIDWAR, 25 Sep: State Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister Ganesh Joshi formally inaugurated the first organic outlet of Haridwar district, “3K Kailash Ganga”, under the Traditional Agricultural Development Scheme, here, today.
Ganesh Joshi said that many crops are being cultivated traditionally in different parts of the state. After the formation of the state, only 178 hectares were registered under organic agriculture in 2003. For its expansion, efforts are currently being made by the State Government in collaboration with the Central Government, including the Traditional Agricultural Development Scheme, Namami Gange and National Agricultural Development Scheme, etc., by connecting 4.47 lakh farmers on a total area of 2.30 lakh hectares in the state. The Minister said that under organic farming in the Haridwar district and PGS and NPOP certification process, organic farming is being done on a total area of 17,648 hectares involving 18,666 farmers. Besides, outlets are being opened in the state for marketing products produced through organic farming and to provide premium prices to farmers. This will not only provide farmers involved in organic farming with a local market to sell their produce but will also generate employment.
He added that, to promote organic farming, along with declaring 10 development blocks of the state as completely organic, the “Uttarakhand Organic Act” was also implemented in the year 2019. To promote organic as well as natural farming in the interest of farmers, the State Government is starting the National Natural Agriculture Mission in 11 districts in collaboration with the Government of India from the financial year 2023-24. The Government of India has approved the operation of the project worth Rs 796.42 lakh on 6400 hectares.
On this occasion, MP Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ and Chief Agriculture Officer Vijay Devradi were also present.
Dehradun Cantt MLA Savita Kapoor, Rural Development Secretary Radhika Jha, Additional Secretary Nitika Khandelwal, Commissioner Anand Swaroop, Union Joint Director of Rural Development, SK Tiwari, Prabhakar Vevni, AK Rajput, Mohd Aslam, BJP Mandal President Jyoti Kotia, Poonam Nautiyal, Sarika Khatri, Niranjan Doval, RS Parihar, Devendra Rawat, Manjeet Rawat, Vishnu Prasad Gupta and students studying in the state through DDU-GKY and directors and representatives of various institutions were also present on the occasion.
