Chief Minsiter Trivendra Singh Rawat has categorically said that it is duty of the state government to provide quality plants to farmers. State will give a gurantee too. For this State Government is going to bring a nursery Act shortly and in the interests of farmers, the departments are being merged because the Government’s target is to double the income of farmers by 2022. He reiterated that state government is for farmers and for their welfare, the state would appoint one officer each at Nyay Panchayat level and its monitoring will be done by the horticulture secretary. The Chief Minister would be apprised by the horticulture secretary about the ground situation of the horticulture department. He also said that officers’ indiscipline will not be tolerated if the interests of farmers are affected negatively.
CM Rawat expressed this view while addressing the farmers after inaugurating a mango festival which is being organised by horticulture and food processing department here in Veer Shiromani Madho Singh Bhandari Kisan Bhawan, Dehradun on Sunday. The CM said that he understands the value of education, agriculture and horticulture. It is also heartening that such a festival is being organised at Kisan Bhawan which is also a matter of pride for the state. He informed that currently 36000 hectare land area is being used for mango cultivation and around 1.5 lakh metric tonne mangoes are being produced in the state. There is comparatively smaller area of agriculture land considering which there is need to save the land from the land mafia too, he said. The protection of orchards and promiting the same is a collective responsibility in the State. Agriculture lands and orchards not only fulfil the future requirement but also play a major role in saving the environment. Just as trees are directly associated with the economy, they are also vital part of the eco system, stressed Rawat.
He said that agriculture department employees’ income is fixed so similarly there is need to consider how to also facilitate a fixed income for farmers too. Currently several facilities are available for farmers welfare and agricultural development. Under Prime Minister crop insurance scheme the crop grown by farmers is insured from plantation to harvesting. The prime minister has also fixed a target for doubling the income of farmers by 2022. Apprising the farmers, the CM said that now compensation for disaster has been raised by one and half times.
Now Government is going to bring a nursery Act so that if farmers buy plants from nursery then they are bound to receive a gurantee of the productivity as well. Nursery owners’ accoutablity will be fixed under the Act. He said that state’s environment is conducive so it is possible to achieve the objective laid out by the Prime Minister by adopting a proper strategy. As is known, aromatic plant cultivation would be quite appropriate in the state. Such cultivation would not get damaged by the wild animals and its transportation cost would be less. Such yield does not require cold storage. He appealed to the farmers to give their suggestions through the proper channel to the Government or personnaly for the development of agriculture and horticulture in Uttarakhand. The State would welcome their suggestions and if it found worthy then state would also adopt such aspects in its policy.
The CM further said that under the livelihood mission farmers would learn skills like packaging, distribution, marketing and processing too. With these techniques they can increase their income and it is known that once the farmers develop buying capacity then economy will boom.
The CM along with State cabinet minister Subodh Uniyal also visited to the stalls of mangoes and during visit he also enquired about the various varieties of mangoes on display.