SHIMLA: Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Minister Virender Kanwar said State Government has ensured balanced and equitable development of every section of the society in the Budget 2022-23. The has been given in the Budget especially to agriculture, animal husbandry and rural development, he said.
The Minister said that agriculture sector has provided economic support during corona period, which was possible due to farmer oriented schemes of the state government. The results of Prakritik Kheti Khushal Kisan Yojana have been very encouraging and Himachal's efforts in this area have also been appreciated by the Prime Minister.
In this budget, a provision has been made to bring 50 thousand acres of land under natural farming. Atleast one model of natural farming in all 3615 gram panchayats of the state would be developed, which would help in training and motivating farmers of adjoining areas. Besides this, atleast 100 villages would be developed natural farming villages as per Government of India standards and registration of farmers practicing natural farming is also commendable.
He said that Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) are being setup to provide direct linkage for farmers to market. Provision has been made to set up 20 more FPOs in the coming year, out of which 10 will relate to natural farming only. With the establishment of a new cold store of 5000 metric ton capacity at a cost of Rs 60.93 crore to develop Parala Mandi as a model market, the producers will get better facilities. A provision of Rs 31 crore has been made for strengthening 13 market yards in Phase-II of JICA aided project.
After successful cultivation of Heeng and Kesar, now the cultivation of cinnamon and monk fruit would be introduced in collaboration with the Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (IHBT) on pilot basis. The announcement of increase in outlay from Rs. 5 crore to Rs. 10 crore for promoting local varieties of wheat and maize seeds to improve productivity and additional allocation of Rs. 3 crore for high yield variety seeds of other crops would prove beneficial to farmers.
Expressing his gratitude to the Chief Minister for making a provision of Rs 583 crore in the budget of 2022-23 for the agriculture sector, he said that these efforts of the state government would pave the way for their prosperity along with the expected increase in the income of the farmers.
Virendra Kanwar said that with the efforts of the State Government to provide shelter to cows, the number of cows in Gaushalas and Gausadans has increased from 6 thousand to 20 thousand. He thanked the Chief Minister for the announcing establishment of five major cow-sanctuaries and Gausadans for Himachali Pahadi Cows and for increasing the grant under GOPAL arrangement from Rs 500 to Rs 700 for dependent cows in private Gaushalas.
The Minister said that the state government has increased the milk procurement price by Rs 7 per litre in the last four years to protect the interests of the families associated in milk production. Continuing this, in the upcoming budget also, an increase of Rs 2 per litre will enable the milk producers to get a fair price.
He said that two milk processing plants of 50 thousand litres capacity each would be started at Dattanagar and Chakkar Mandi, 44 mobile veterinary ambulances to provide better facilities to Animal Husbandry farmers with an expenditure of Rs. 7 crore and two thousand sheep units under Rural Backyard Sheep Development scheme for which a provision of Rs.12 crore has been proposed would further strengthen the economy of the cattle rearers in the state.
