हिंदी
Chandigarh, August 11:
Haryana Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister, Mr. J.P. Dalal said that on the initiative of Haryana Government, the declaration of the minimum support price of crops before the sowing season by the Central Government since 2017 have started showing positive results. As a result, not only the prices of crops are increasing by more than 50 percent every year, but the area under crops is also increasing continuously.
Mr. Dalal said that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centre and the State Government announced several new schemes for the welfare of farmer, turning the nationwide lockdown period into an opportunity.
He said that with the Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Department has now been attached with Co-operation Department and the Government of India has named it the Agriculture, Co-operation and Farmers’ Welfare Department. Haryana Chief Minister, Mr. Manohar Lal has announced the opening of 2000 outlets under the Brand Harit in the State, on which Haryana Agro Industries is working fast.
Mr. JP Dalal said that the Government is encouraging farmers to become entrepreneurs along with pursuing farming, farmers should also become entrepreneurs. For this, the Central Government had recently brought the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, 2020and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Ordinance, 2020 to allow farmers to sell their produce, not only in the mandis of Haryana, but also in mandis of other states as per their wish. Similarly, under contract farming, they can enter into an e-contract with any person or bank for their produce. Now they will not be required to mortgage their land with the bank for crop loans.
He said that Devlali to Danapur ‘Kisan Rail’ is a good initiative to make agricultural products of perishable fruits and vegetables directly accessible to consumers. Under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana, the sixth installment of Rs 17,000 crore has been added to the accounts of 8.50 crore farmers of the country. He said that during COVID-19, the State Government provided financial assistance ranging from Rs 4000 – Rs 5000 to about 16 lakh families; whether it was under Mukhyamantri Parivar Samridhi Yojana or was made available through the Haryana Building and other Construction Workers’ Welfare Board.
He said that the area under kharif crops like rice, pulses, coarse cereals, oilseeds, sugarcane, cotton, etc. is continuously increasing in the country, which shows that if we analyze this increase from the year 2017 to 2022 every year, then we may conclude that Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi’s goal to double the income of farmers will be attained by the year 2020.
