Haryana CM advocates for modern farming

Chandigarh, Oct 22 (IANS) Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday said instead of cultivating traditional crops it is imperative for the farmers to do modern crops farming -- the need of the hour.

“This will not only enhance their income but will also ensure protection of the environment. The farmer's future depends on crop diversification. In this direction, the state government took a new initiative by starting the Mera Pani-Meri Virasat scheme, under which the key objective is to ensure water conservation with crop diversification,” he said.

The scheme is proving to be effective and considering its success, a target of saving 42,480 crore litres of water has been set for 2023-24.

The Chief Minister said under the Mera Pani-Meri Virasat scheme started in 2020, the government is providing a financial assistance of Rs 7,000 per acre to the farmers for diversifying the paddy crop with alternative crops like maize, cotton, millet, pulses, vegetables and fruits.

In Kharif year 2020, the crop diversification was adopted by 41,947 farmers on 63,743 acres and a grant of Rs 45 crore was provided to them.

A total of 22,565 crore litres of water was saved. Similarly, in Kharif 2023 alternative crops of the previous year have been included in this year as well and in this scheme a target of 1.20 lakh acres has been set under crop diversification for which a grant of Rs 84 crore is expected to be spent by the government.

The total target of this scheme is to save approximately 42,480 crore litres of water. Till July 31, 32,150 farmers have registered their 70,170 acres of crops under this scheme.

Khattar said the government has implemented the Natural Farming Scheme to protect soil health from degradation.

A target of 20,000 acres, comprising 16,000 acres agriculture and 4,000 acres horticulture, has been set up to encourage natural farming in 2023-24. For this, the government has started a dedicated natural farming portal and till now 9,169 farmers have registered themselves on the portal.

Under this scheme, an assistance of Rs 3,000 will be provided for purchasing four drums to a farmer to prepare a natural fertiliser produced by mixing cow’s dung and urine and Rs 25,000 for the purchase of indigenous cows.