By Our Staff Reporter
DEHRADUN, 2 Nov: State Agriculture Minister Ganesh Joshi on Thursday inaugurated the Farmers’ Rabi Festival – 2023 organised by the Agriculture and Line Departments under the “Sarkar Kisan kay Dwar” scheme at Jaintanwala of Gram Panchayat Hariyawala Khurd, here.
Minister Joshi also flagged off 7 agricultural chariots which will visit 40 Nyaya Panchayats of Dehradun district to provide information about the public welfare schemes run by the department to the farmers.
The Rabi Krishak Mahotsav is being organised in all 13 districts of the state from 2 to 8 November in all 670 Nyaya Panchayats by 107 agricultural chariots under the ‘Sarkar Kisan ke Dwar’ programme.
The Agriculture Minister, in his address, said that agriculture plays an important role in the economic development and progress of the country. Agricultural scientists and farmers have played an important role in making the country self-sufficient in food grains. For the development of agriculture and to make agriculture convenient, important public welfare programs related to agriculture are being run by the state government through the Agriculture Department. Through the Krishak Mahotsav, the Agriculture and Line departments will reach out to the farmers and provide them with information about the departmental schemes and also solve the problems of the farmers. Besides, necessary agricultural inputs will also be supplied and there will also be an opportunity for farmer-scientific dialogue.
At the time of formation of Uttarakhand state, the total cultivable land of the state was 7.70 lakh hectares on which food grain production was 16.47 lakh tonnes. At the present, the cultivable land has decreased to 6.21 lakh hectares, but the food grain production has increased to 19.23 lakh metric tons, which clearly shows that agricultural scientists, farmers and the department have made commendable efforts in the field of food grain production. The Government of India has honoured the Government of Uttarakhand with the Krishi Karman Award for the best state in total food grain production for the year 2017-18. In the year 2025-26, the state will require 22.59 lakh metric tonnes of food grains and the department will make efforts to fulfill the said requirement through various schemes.
The Minister added that, from 2017-18 to 2022-23, 3050 Farm Machinery Banks and Custom Hiring Centres were established. By the year 2030, farm machinery banks will be established in all the gram panchayats (6787) of the hill areas. The state government has permitted the State Millet Mission worth Rs 73.16 crore from the year 2023–24 to the year 2027–28 to promote millet crops and include them in the diet of the common people. Under the mission, it has been ensured that Mandua and Sowa are purchased from farmers at minimum support price through the Cooperative Department, and farmers will also be given an incentive amount of Rs 150.00 per quintal for consuming Mandua at the collection centre. For the financial year 2023-24, a target has been set to procure 16,500 tonnes of Mandua crop from farmers.
At present, organic farming work is being done on about 2.23 lakh hectares of land in the state, under which traditional crops of the state like Mandua, Sawa, Bhatt, Jaggery, Basmati rice, etc., are being produced which are marketed as “Organic Uttarakhand” and it is being done under the brand “Namami Gange”. Apart from the above, the Government of India has approved the scheme of ‘Natural Farming’ on 6400 hectares of land, and the State Government has permitted running the scheme of ‘Natural Farming’ on 1950 hectares of land in the Ganga Corridor. On the lines of the Centre, the state government is also starting the “Mukhyamantri Natural Agriculture Scheme” in the state, so that more areas can be covered under natural agriculture. He said that soon the Ganga River Cleanliness Programme will be started. Under this, the “Namami Gange Natural Agricultural Corridor Scheme” is being started by the state government. Expressing confidence, Joshi said that with the cooperation of the Government of India and the efforts of the state government, the economy of the farmers will improve.
On this occasion, Director General of Agriculture, Ranveer Singh Chauhan, Director, Agriculture, KC Pathak, District President, Kisan Morcha, Matwar Singh Bisht, Village Head Sagar Singh, Nain Singh Panwar, Sandhya Thapa, Leela Sharma, Prem Singh Panwar, Nirmala Thapa, Girish Uniyal along with Agriculture Department officials and thousands of farmers were present.
