In an attempt to give international market to its brand ‘ Hilans’, the agriculture department is in talks with the online trading platforms like Amazon, said the Secretary Agriculture, D Senthil Pandian while addressing newsmen here on Wednesday. The agriculture department is promoting local agricultural products of Uttarakhand under brand name Hilans. Pandiyan said that the brand has a turnover of about Rs 86 Crores.
He said that the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi has taken up a target to double the income of the farmers by the year 2022 and in this perspective, the agriculture department and IFAD would organise a state level fair at Parade ground on May 4. The secretary told that agriculture and all its linear departments like horticulture, animal husbandry and cooperatives would participate in the fair. The farmers would be told about the ways to double their income by using integrated approach of farming.
The fair is likely to be attended by more than 4000 farmers from across the state. Pandian said that Farm machinery bank would be the major attraction of the fair. Under a farm machinery bank an fund worth Rs 10 lakh is provided to a small group of farmers and a subsidy of Rs 8 lakh is given by the Government for it. Under the farm bank the machines such as Power tiller, power weeder, thrasher, chaff cutter, self propelled reaper, brush cutter, harrow, seed drill, reaper cum binder, water pumps, power sprayer, pump set and water pipes are provided to the farmers.
He added that the State Government has set up a scheme of farm machinery bank at Nyaya Panchayat level and an amount of Rs 4000 lakh under central sector and Rs 400 lakh under state sector has been sanctioned for it.
The department has taken a target to distribute 400 farm machinery banks under the scheme.
Highlighting the importance of the farm machinery banks, Pandian said that 92 percent of farmers in the state are in the category of small and marginal and therefore they are not in a position to purchase farm machinery individually