From next week, farmers in 585 regulated wholesale markets or mandis across different States including Haryana will be able to sell their agriculture produce at best prices, said Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh on Wednesday.
“Around 585 mandis across the country would be connected with e-trading. The Government is also preparing a scheme for commercialisation of centres of excellence for fruits and vegetables to improve the economic condition of farmers. The scheme would be launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in big mandis, including those in Haryana, on April 14,” said the Union Agriculture Minister while speaking after inaugurating the Centre for Sub-tropical Fruits in Kurukshetra.
Radha Mohan Singh said that an agreement for establishing a centre of excellence for fruits was signed between India and Israel under the Indo-Israel Agriculture Project in May, 2006.
He said that Haryana had taken a major step for advancement in the horticultural sector by establishing the Centre of Excellence in ladwa with the assistance of experts from Israel.
Under the Indo-Israel work scheme, approval has been given for 26 centres of excellence under the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture.
Speaking on the occasion, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal said that the Centre for Sub-tropical Fruits had been set up over an area of 28 acres in ladwa at a cost of Rs 9.10 crore.
He said that work would be carried out to connect farmers through modern technology for trial of new varieties, dense plantation and renovation of old orchards.
Under the Indo-Israel Agriculture Project, farmers would be provided planting material of high-quality fruit plants and information regarding methods of management, apart from training and on-site demonstrations, he added.
Agriculture and Rural Development Minister, Israel, Uri Ariel while speaking said that projects to establish centres of excellence in Haryana were started in April 2015, so that good crops could be produced using new and efficient techniques from Israel.
Haryana Agriculture Minister, OP Dhankar said that agricultural and water management techniques of Israel were being adopted all over the world.
He said that in Haryana, work was being carried out on 13 such projects, including Centre of Excellence for Vegetables in Gharaunda, Centre of Excellence for Fruits in Mangiana, Sirsa, and Government livestock Farm, Hisar. Work is also being carried out on a project to open an Integrated Bee-keeping Development Centre (IBDC) at Ramnagar, he added.