Himachal Government will declare support price for potato: Sukhu
Chief Minister Thakur Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu said the State Government was constantly striving to strengthen the rural economy and a potato processing plant would be set up in Una district at a cost of about Rs 20 crore. He said the support price would be soon declared for potato to strengthen the economy of the farmers.
The Chief Minister was chairing the state level Multi-Stakeholder Consultative conference organized by Himachal Pradesh Revitalizing Rainfed Agriculture Network, here today.
He said the state government was promoting green energy and natural farming in a big way. The minimum support price had been fixed for crops produced from natural farming and it would be further increased in the coming time. Highlighting the importance of natural farming, he said that many new schemes would be implemented in the coming year to boost the rural economy.
Sh. Sukhu said that after the north-eastern states of the country, the highest increase in cancer cases had been witnessed in Himachal Pradesh. The efforts were on to find out the root cause and change in food habits could also be a main reason for rise in cancer cases.
The Chief Minister said that 80 percent of the state’s population depends on agriculture for livelihood and was the backbone of Himachal’s economy which contributes about 14 percent to the state’s GDP. He expressed also concern over the changing pattern of weather which was adversely effecting the agriculture sector. This challenges could be faced effectively by taking steps like climate tolerant agriculture, promotion of pulses, extensive animal husbandry, more use of traditional seeds, laying emphasis on water security and soil conservation etc., he added.
He said the traditional seeds and crops grown through natural farming were rich in nutrition and also require less water. We need to reuse such traditional crops and these had to be further improved through research to ensuring nutritious food and clean environment to the future generations.
The Chief Minister also released a book based on the experiences of natural farming on this occasion. He praised the farmers engaged in natural farming and also detailed the efforts being made by the state government in promoting this system of agriculture.
Padma Shri Nek Ram Sharma apprised the Chief Minister about the conference. He also discussed the importance of millets along-with conservation of water, forest and land.
MLA Harish Janartha, Padma Shri Hariman, agriculture expert Dr. Sabyasachi Das, agriculture experts, senior officials of the Agriculture department, stakeholders, representatives of agricultural university were present on this occasion.
