State Finance Minister and MlA from Haldwani Assembly constituency, Indira Hridayesh, has called upon the farmers engaged in potato farming to increase the potato production in the State so that Uttarakhand could be developed as the 'Potato State'.
Potato is one of the vegetables whose prices also remain high along with that of onion. That is why the farmers particularly those who are associated with potato farming need to work for increasing production of this one of the most common vegetables, the State Finance Minister further said while addressing farmers and traders associated with the Haldwani Sabzi Mandi at a programme here on Sunday.
At the same time the MlA from Haldwani also assured the farmers to extend all kind of assistance from the Government saying, the Government is committed to address the problems of the farmers on priority basis.
The Government will take necessary steps after studying the farming and horticulture policies of other states also that better results could be achieved in farming sector in the sate too, she added.
More so, the State Finance Minister also assured the farmers and traders to organise a meeting in the chairmanship of the State Agriculture Minister in the region in December. Apart from farmers and traders, experts and scientists will also take part in this meeting and a new strategy will be prepared to address the grievances of the farmers and boost the farming sector, she added.
Speaking on this occasion, Sumit Hridayesh, chairman of the Haldwani mandi samiti, said that about 20,000 quintal potato seed will be soon procured from Himachal Pradesh so that farmers engaged in potato farming in the state could use better quality seed.
Besides, efforts are also being made to arrange Rs 15 lakh to provide good quality seeds and plans and other related farming related things for farmers, he added.
More so, steps are also being taken to setup small groups of women so that the women could be integrated with vegetable and fruit productions, further said the chairman of the Haldwani mandi samiti.
He also said that soon the new mandi will also be ready with modern and air-conditioned storage facility for keeping fruits and vegetables.