Chandigarh March 12: Haryana Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal said that while reiterating state government’s commitment towards realizing the national goal of making agriculture futuristic and doubling the farmer’s income, an amount of Rs. 6,110 crores has been allocated for the year 2021-22, of which Rs. 2,998 crores for agriculture and farmers welfare, Rs. 489 crores for horticulture, Rs. 1,225 for animal husbandry and dairying, Rs. 125 crores for fisheries and Rs. 1,274 crores for cooperation. The outlay of Rs. 6,110 crores for BE 2021-22 indicates an increase of 20.9 percent against the RE 2020-21 of Rs. 5,052 crores.
The Chief Minister who also holds the portfolio of Finance Minister said this while presenting the State Budget for the year 2021-22 during the ongoing Budget session of Haryana Vidhan Sabha here today.
“We are indebted to our farmers, whose toil and hard work has made Haryana the food bowl of the country. Agriculture is the mainstay of our economy. We are committed to doubling farmer’s income and ensuring his/her wellbeing, “said the Chief Minister.
He said that the State Government is implementing a number programmes with a focus on major areas such as soil health management-integrated nutrient management; pest management; availability of quality inputs (fertilizer, seeds, pesticides; reclamation of alkali and saline water-logged soils; construction of water harvesting structures; on-farm water management; promotion of farm mechanization; coverage of area and yield estimation, crop diversification, promotion of fruits and vegetables apart from giving a thrust to agricultural marketing.
Soil health and cropping choices
The Chief Minister announced that a special campaign –“Har Khet Swasth Khet” will be launched to focus on soil health and facilitating cropping choices based on soil quality. The programme for collection and testing of soil samples of every acre will be launched vigorously from April, 2021 covering the whole State in coming 3-4 years. This is an effort to provide an end to end solution to farming – from soil health, crop choices, inputs, processing and marketing, he said.
He said that farmers are being encouraged to sow crops based on the soil health. Details of crops own will be provided by the registered farmers in the “Meri Fasal Mera Byora” portal. 9.14 lakhs farmers have been registered on “Meri Fasal Mera Byora” portal.
17 new Static Soil Testing Laboratories and 59 Mini-Soil Testing Laboratories are being established
The Chief Minister said that as many as 17 new Static Soil Testing Laboratories and 59 Mini-Soil Testing Laboratories are being established in Mandis/Government buildings to provide door-step soil testing services to farmers. The construction work of buildings for 14 new Soil Testing Laboratories has been completed and the work pertaining to the remaining Soil Testing Laboratories is under progress, he added.
About 125 Soil Testing Laboratories to be established during 2021-22
Sh. Manohar Lal said that to increase awareness among the farmers as well as science students regarding importance of soil health management, government are imparting training to science students for testing soils and water samples to provide these services to farmers as entrepreneurs and now as many as 125 new Soil Testing Laboratories will be established in schools/colleges/technical universities/institutions during 2021-22.
He said that in the first phase, 115 Government Senior Secondary Schools and Colleges have been selected for setting up soil testing laboratories during 2020-21. This will benefit farmers on one hand and introduce a unique earn-while-you-learn opportunity to students, on the other. Also, students of Agriculture and Horticulture Universities will have mandatory linkage with field level activities as part of their curriculum, said the Chief Minister.
Government targets 1 lakh acres of land for reclamation in 2021-22
Sh. Manohar Lal said that a new portal will also be established for seeking participation of farmers in the scheme for treatment of alkaline and saline soil. The Government aims to target 1 lakh acres of land for reclamation in 2021-22.
1000 FPOs to be formed upto March, 2022
The Chief Minister informed that another thrust area for the government is to establish and expand the network of FPOs. The government has targeted to form 500 Farmer Produce Organizations upto March, 2021 and 1000 Farmer Produce Organizations (FPOs) upto March, 2022 against which 486 FPOs have been formed. To promote entrepreneurship, a Crop Cluster Development Programme is under implementation.
Kisan Mitra Yojana to be launched
The Chief Minister said that Government of Haryana is going to launch a new scheme, namely, Kisan Mitra Yojana. This Scheme will be one of the most significant initiatives of the Government of Haryana to ensure financial services to farmers to empower them, he said.
He informed that the main objective of e-MFFSS is to facilitate farmers through multiple services like cash withdrawal, cash deposit, balance enquiry, pin change, new pin generation, mini statement, cheque book request, Aadhaar number updation, loan request, mobile number updation and registration of problems and feedback etc. The scheme envisages installing 1000 farmer’s ATMs in the State in partnership with banks.
State aims to reduce area under paddy cultivation by 2 lakh acres during 2021-22
The Chief Minister that under the state Government’s ambitious ‘Mera Pani Meri Virasat’ scheme which has been launched targeting crop diversification and economic use of ground water, a target has been set to reduce area under paddy cultivation by 2 lakh acres during 2021-22.
He said that under this scheme, till date an area of 97,000 acres has been diversified from paddy to other crops such as maize, cotton, Bajra, pulses, vegetable, gram etc. The Government is providing subsidy of Rs. 7000 per acre as an incentive to farmers for diversification from paddy to alternate crops.
Zero budget farming, organic and natural farming
The Chief Minister said that as part of the initiative to make agriculture viable, and provide fresh, unpolluted farm produce to consumers, our Government seeks to promote zero budget farming and organic/natural farming. It is targeted to cover an area of one lakh acres of cropped area under this initiative in the coming three years. He said that training will be provided to farmers in these techniques, and appropriate assistance will be provided to promote them. Testing and certification laboratories will be established to promote marketing of farm produce grown with these techniques, he informed.
Crop residue fire incidents reduced to 5678 in 2020-21
The Chief Minister said that the State Government has launched a massive campaign for the management of crop residue. 10,042 machines were provided on a subsidized basis to individual farmers and 1345 custom hiring centres were opened and because of these efforts, the crop residue fire incidents reduced to 5678 in 2020-21 from 6364 in 2019-20.
He further informed that a comprehensive management plan has been prepared for the management of crop residue on site and at other locations. Steps have been initiated to install 100 compressed bio-gas and bio-mass plants in the State for utilization of crop residue in association with the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. Mapping of paddy growing villages is also being conducted to provide the catchment area with supply of paddy straw for such use.
PMFBY revamped
The Chief Minister said that the State Government has notified a revamped Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) by making the scheme optional for all farmers from Kharif 2020. The representatives of insurance company have been positioned at each block in the State. 13.27 lakh farmers have been benefited with a claim amount of Rs. 2980.74 crores under this scheme so far, while 9,14,273 farmers were covered during Kharif 2020.
Horticulture has increased to 4.78 lakh hectare with production of 80.67 lakh metric tonnes
The Chief Minister informed that the area under horticulture has increased to 4.78 lakh hectare with production of 80.67 lakh metric tonnes. While the ‘Bhavantar Bharpayee Yojana’ has been launched for 20 horticulture crops to assure a reasonable price, the ‘Mukhyamantri Bagwani Bima Yojana’ (MBBY) has been launched to protect farmers from potential losses on account of vagaries of weather with respect to these horticultural crops. To promote quality of these crops, 1.28 crore hybrid vegetable seedlings were given to farmers.
Processing units are being set up for tomatoes, onions, potatoes, kinnow, guava, mushrooms, strawberries, ginger, cabbage, chillies, baby corn and sweet corn. 20 units have been sanctioned to Farmer Produce Organizations so far, out of which work on eight units is in progress. The work on these twenty units is expected to be completed by the end of current financial year, he informed.
He said that two new programmes namely one on Farmer Producer Organization and another on National Beekeeping and Honey Mission were launched. The subsidy limit in fruit orchards has been increased from Rs. 16,000 to Rs. 20000 per acre for Mango, Guava and Citrus crops. One Centre of Excellence was established for Guava.