By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 13 Dec: Agriculture Minister Ganesh Joshi held a review meeting with the officials of Agriculture and Horticulture Department, at the camp office located at New Cantt Road here today. Departmental officials including Secretary Dr BVRC Purushottam, Additional Secretary Ranveer Singh Chauhan, Horticulture Director HS Baweja, Agriculture Director Gaurishankar were present in the meeting.
One of the major decisions taken at the meeting was to procure Mandua (Ragi or finger millet) directly from the farmers and distribute it through the PDS.
Joshi instructed to develop the gardens of parks through horticulture tourism in the state, and prepare the project of floriculture within 6 months at the Centre for Excellence in Gangalhari, located in Goharimafi, Raiwala. In the meeting, Minister Joshi also instructed the Agriculture Secretary and others to visit the field for 10 days in a month and work there. In the meeting, discussions were also held on developing horticulture in Dhanaulti for tourism.
The Minister gave necessary guidelines to the officers to ensure that the farmers get apple packing boxes at the right time and of good quality. He said that preparations should be made from now onwards so that next time apple growers do not have to go out for apple boxes.
Minister Joshi reminded the officials that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declared 2023 as Year of Millets. Demand for millets is growing rapidly, he said. He assured the officials that the government has special focus on hill products like Finger Millet (Mandua or Ragi), Ramdana, Jhangora. He said that the state government has decided to procure Mandua directly from the farmers and get it distributed to the poor through Public Distribution System (PDS). One kilogram of Mandua would be given to the poor ration card holders every month. He added that coarse grains like Mandua will also be added to the mid-day meal and will be distributed through Anganwadi centres. This will result in benefit for the farmers and well as school children. He also stressed upon the officials to spread maximum publicity to increase consumption of millets.
