Haryana Government has sent an ambitious Rs 120 crore action plan for diversification of crops to the Centre for approval. State Agriculture Minister Om Parkash Dhankar on Monday said that after its approval, Rs50 crore would be spent on setting up of poly houses. Giving a new dimension to horticulture sector, Haryana Government has implemented an ambitious plan so as to enable the farmers to increase their income by getting handsome yield even from their small land holdings, said he.
This plan includes insurance cover for every poly house already set up and also, for new poly houses to be set up in the State. He said that poly houses have already been set up over more than 1,210 acres of area in the state, but the demand to set up such poly houses is increasing. To set up these poly houses, the government had given a subsidy of more than Rs 195 crore to the farmers.
The Minister said that the decision to bring all poly houses under the ambit of insurance cover would help the farmers in getting the benefit of insurance in case a poly house gets damaged. For implementation of this ambitious scheme, a contract has been awarded to three companies. For those farmers who want to get handsome yield by setting up poly houses on their small pieces of land, the government would provide subsidy for the success of their ventures.
He said that under a scheme for farmers having small landholdings, they are provided with infrastructure at half the cost. Dhankar said that ever since an Indo-Israel Centre of Excellence for Vegetables has been set up at Gharaunda in district Karnal, the farmers are becoming inclined towards protected farming. They are setting up poly houses to get good returns from small landholdings. The vegetables grown under poly houses are free from pesticides. About 41 lakh saplings of different hybrid vegetables have been prepared at the Centre of Excellence for Vegetables and these have been given to the farmers on subsidized rates. The farmers are educated about cultivation in poly houses, he said.