Himachal Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Sunday said that agriculture has been significantly contributing to the economy of the State.
He said that 90 percent of people in the State live in rural areas and about 62 percent people are associated with agricultural activities. Agriculture and allied sectors contribute about 12.73 percent of the State’s Gross Domestic Product. The State Government is laying special emphasis on strengthening the agricultural sector, he said.
About 5.42 lakh hectares of land is being cultivated in the State. While 87.95 percent farmers belong to marginal and small sections of the State and are cultivating on 54.18 percent part of land, around 11.71 percent of farmers belong to the middle category and only 0.34 percent farmers belong to the category of big farmers.
Talking about steps taken by the government for welfare of farmers, an official spokesman said that several irrigation schemes have been started by the Agriculture Department for making water available in every field of the farmer. With this, irrigation facility is being provided in 10,428 hectare additional land, benefiting 24,007 farmers of the State.
Under Mukhya Mantri Khet Sanrakshan Yojna, solar fencing has been provided to 2,592 farmers for protection of their crop from monkeys and stray animals. To improve the economy of the State, 7464 hectares of additional land has been brought under cash crops through the Crop Diversification Scheme, he said.
To increase agricultural production and productivity in the state, 2,63,600 quintals of improved seeds (grains, pulses, oilseeds, fodder crops, vegetables, etc.) are being provided to the farmers at subsidized rates.
The State Government has also launched Uttam Chara Yojna to promote Animal Husbandry. Under this, around 50,533 hectares of fodder crops were produced by the benefited farmers, the spokesman said.
Apart from this, the State Government has also started a crop insurance scheme to protect the crop of farmers from damage, under which 97,412 farmers have availed crop insurance facility during Kharif and Rabi seasons. Compensation amount of Rs 19.54 crores has been given to the farmers. During this period, Rs 18.97 crore was paid as premium to the insurance companies, he said.
Under the Agricultural Mechanization Scheme, 59,710 farmers were provided with machinery, other equipment and tools for farming under 50 percent subsidy. Under this, more than one lakh agricultural tools and equipment have been provided to farmers in the present tenure of the government.
To increase production and productivity of paddy, maize, pulses, wheat and nutritional grains, assistance is provided for machinery, seeds, micronutrients, plant protection etc. under the National Food Security Campaign, on which Rs 26.13 crore was spent, the spokesman added.