Haryana Agriculture and Framers Welfare Minister Jai Prakash Dalal on Wednesday said horticulture should be promoted in a big way the State and farmers' produce should be processed, packaged and branded and sold directly in the market, which will increase the income of the farmers.
Taking a meeting of Horticulture department here, in which he reviewed the schemes and works of the department which are currently being run, Dalal gave directions to prepare an action plan for the coming years. Director General, Horticulture Department Arjun Saini, Joint Director Ranbir Singh and other officers of the department were present in the meeting.
He said Haryana will have to move in the direction of horticulture along with agriculture-oriented State and for this, FPOs should be set up at village level or cluster level for the process, packaging and branding of framers produce. He said that Delhi's market is very big market neighbouring with Haryana, due to which farmers 'produce will be sold at market price, farmers' income will definitely increase.
Dalal directed the officials that on the places which have sandy land and scarcity of water, research should be done about cultivation of any special vegetable or fruits or flowers grown according to season on that land.
Director General, Horticulture Department, Arjun Saini infomred that in the year 2014 the horticulture area in the State was 4.39 lakh hectares and in the year 2019, a target of 5.54 lakh hectares has been set, of which 5.26 lakh hectares has been completed, which is 7.98 per cent. He informed that the target is to take the horticulture area by 10 per cent by the year 2030. He informed that horticulture work is being done in about 1700 villages.
REVIEWS ANIMAL HUSBANDRY DEPT
Jai Prakash Dalal, who is also Animal Husbandry Minister asked the officials that efforts should be made in making Haryana a leader in milk production, providing better medical services for livestock and further, promote the wool trade in the State.
In a meeting of Animal Husbandry Department held here, he discussed the works and future action plan of the department. Giving directions to the officials, Dalal said that along with agriculture, the officials should also take care of the other options to increase the income of the farmers. He said that in this series, new schemes should be drafted to promote milk production. He said that every animal should be given a Unique Identification number by tagging it so that every type of information related to it can be available and further their productivity and medical treatment and all other types of records will also be kept.
Additional Chief Secretary Animal Husbandry Department Sunil Kumar Gulati and other senior officers were present in the meeting.