Home Dehradun Govt committed to promoting natural farming: Dhami

Govt committed to promoting natural farming: Dhami

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By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 25 Apr: Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, while participating in a programme on innovative agriculture organised by the NITI Aayog, through video conferencing from the Secretariat, stressed that the Uttarakhand Government is continuously working to promote innovative technologies in agriculture in the state. Dhami also stressed on an ideal coordination between ecology and economy in Uttarakhand.
He said that the state government had implemented the Gross Environmental Product (GEP) concept in the state, which is being implemented along with the prevailing model of determining GDP. The Chief Minister said that, under the National Horticulture Mission, the government aims to establish world-class nurseries in the state, ensure global recognition of Uttarakhand tea, promote tea cultivation and ensure large scale construction of rain harvesting tanks by encouraging cultivators to adopt water conservation practices. He added that the government is making sincere efforts to raise vegetable and flower production in the state. Efforts are being made to promote polyhouses for which help would be sought from NITI Aayog and the Union Government under various schemes.
The Chief Minister stressed that the State Government is committed to the uplift of organic agriculture in Uttarakhand and to work on its various dimensions. The Uttarakhand government is motivating agricultural universities to promote natural farming in the state.
Dhami claimed that the cultivators would be connected to the universities through Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs). He reiterated that promoting natural farming and shifting away from chemical farming was part of the vision document of the state. A task force would soon be formed in the state in this regard and natural farming would be aggressively promoted by involving all the stakeholders. To encourage the traditional farming systems, the state would have to protect its agriculture from all the harmful chemicals. That would lead to prosperity for farmers and also conserve and sustain nature. He stressed on ‘Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah’ based farming systems aimed at all round welfare.
The Chief Minister added that natural farming had been a part of Uttarakhand’s tradition for thousands of years. To save the environment, one would have to take refuge in nature. A start-up hub is being set up at IIM Kashipur to promote agriculture and horticulture based industries in Uttarakhand. Centres of Excellence would be set up in the state under agriculture and horticulture. Value addition and food processing based infrastructure would also be developed in the state under the National Mission for Food Processing by forming a separate nodal unit for processing of fruits and vegetables.
On this occasion, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Purushottam Rupala, Governor of Gujarat Acharya Devvrat, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh Jai Ram Thakur, Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog Dr Rajiv Kumar, Member, NITI Aayog, Dr Neelam Patel were also present.