By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 24 May: Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami held a review meeting today on the short, medium and long term road map of the Agriculture, Horticulture and allied departments at the Secretariat, here. During the meeting, Dhami stressed that better marketing arrangements should be made so that the farmers get a good price for their produce. To double the income of the farmers, special attention should be paid to promote high value crops. Farmers should also be encouraged to produce more millets. The Agriculture, Horticulture and other related departments should work in coordination to strengthen the economy of the farmers.
The CM warned the officials to come fully prepared for such meetings and laxity would not be tolerated. The review meeting was part of the CM’s goal of Uttarakhand@25.
Dhami said that special attention should be paid to increasing the production of millets in view of the fact that the demand is increasing rapidly. Millets will play an important role in increasing the income of farmers. They should also be encouraged to have millets based recipes in starred hotels. Proper arrangements should be made to buy millets at PACS and procurement centres. Those women of self-help groups (SHGs) who buy mandua from farmers at minimum support price should also get incentives. He said that the state has all natural and traditional resources for millets production.
The Chief Minister expressed displeasure at the slow progress under the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund. He gave strict instructions to the Agriculture Department to prepare an action plan to achieve the targets set under the scheme. Simplification of procedures should ensure that farmers do not face any inconvenience in taking loans.
The CM said that a meeting of the Forest Department, Urban Development and other related departments should be held soon to save the crops from damage caused by monkeys and wild boars.
During the review of the Horticulture Department, the Chief Minister directed officials to work on the establishment of polyhouses in the state in campaign mode. The cabinet has decided to give 70 percent subsidy to the farmers for this. Fruits, flowers and vegetables produced in these polyhouses will be sent across the country. It has been decided to set up mandis in Garhwal and Kumaon. The progress of work on polyhouse will also be reviewed. Special attention should be paid to branding, packaging and marketing to promote local products of Uttarakhand. Work should be done expeditiously under the Kiwi and Apple mission. There are many possibilities in the state in the field of beekeeping and honey production. Cabinet Minister Ganesh Joshi, Additional Chief Secretary Radha Raturi, Secretaries R Meenakshi Sundaram, Shailesh Bagoli, Vinay Shankar Pandey, Dipendra Chowdhary, Additional Secretaries Ranveer Singh Chauhan, Vijay Kumar Jogdande, and top officers from Agriculture, Horticulture and allied departments were among those present.
