Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh on Wednesday announced that a Centre of Excellence for Dairy Development (Buffalo) and ‘Gokul Gram’ would be set up in Haryana.
Also, a training centre for pisciculture would be established for women at village lahli in district Rohtak, announced the Union Agriculture Minister during a meeting with Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal and Agriculture Minister OP Dhankar in New Delhi.
The meeting was held with a view to enhance the income of farming community and meet the daily requirement for fruits and vegetables of Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR).
The Union Minister suggested that the State Government should consider all the schemes under Horticulture Mission as a mission in itself so that horticulture, organic farming and fisheries could be developed in Haryana.
He said that the Union Government had launched the ‘Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana’ under which agricultural diversification and organic farming were being encouraged. Under the scheme, subsidy amounting to Rs 20,000 per acre is being given to the farmers.
laying emphasis on Soil Health Card Scheme, he said that the State Agriculture Department should take concerted measures to meet the set target. He also proposed to constitute a committee comprising officers of Central and State Government for implementing different schemes related to agriculture and related departments.
Also, nodal officer would be appointed for coordination of the work of the committee.
During the meeting, the Chief Minister said that Delhi and NCR have a huge market of four crore people and the State Government would take full advantage of it.
He said that various schemes would be initiated by all the agriculture-related departments of the state so that every type of food item could be provided in Delhi and NCR.
The Chief Minister said that a scheme has been launched to save maximum water through micro irrigation so that the saved water could be utilised for horticulture and related purposes. He said that more Milk Cooperative Societies would be set up for encouraging milk production and marketing of milk products in the state.
Speaking at the meeting, Haryana Agriculture Minister OP Dhankhar said that incentives would be given to the farmers to encourage crop diversification.
Urging the Union Minister to lend financial support, he said that Haryana wished to provide fresh and high-quality fruits and vegetables to the people residing in Delhi and NCR. This would not only generate new employment opportunities for the youth, but the state would also advance in the field of food production, said he.
During the meeting, Additional Chief Secretaries of Agriculture, Cooperation and Animal Husbandry and Dairying Departments gave detailed information about various schemes being implemented by their departments.
Notably, Haryana is planning to provide fruits, milk and vegetables to Delhi on the pattern of China, which had developed the peri-urban agriculture zone around Beijing to provide such things to its capital. The peri-urban agriculture would be promoted on the pattern of Beijing in China to meet the demand for milk and milk products, vegetables, fruits, flowers and poultry products in the NCR.
Haryana Government has also set a target of bringing at least one-fourth of the total 36 lakh hectares of cultivable land in the state under horticultural crops within the next 10 years. At present, only 4.9 lakh hectares of total cultivable land in Haryana is covered under horticultural crops.