Chief Minister Raman Singh on Wednesday called for further pushing organic farming practices in the State.

Singh expressed happiness of organic farming acreage going up from 100 acres to 14,000 acres in the State while addressing a two-day national workshop on industrial development using forest produce here.

He said that more and more youth are taking interest in farming and as a result, the State Government had provisioned in the budget to open six new agricultural colleges in the State.

The Chief Minister said that our ancestors had been practicing organic farming and time has come to shun chemical fertilizers and return to organic farming practices.

He also said that farmers' income can be doubled by promoting cultivation of medicinal plants for which the participation of forest dwellers would be needed.

Singh said that global trade on medicinal plants had been growing at the rate of 20 per cent and Chhattisagrh could be a great partner in the growth of international trade.

The Chief Minister said that farmers should be explained about the avenues of processing of agriculture and forest produce and they should be trained for the same.

Notably, on August 31, 2016, Chief Minister Raman Singh had directed officials to draw an action plan for operating a State-level ‘Food Processing Mission’ in the State.

Chairing a meeting of the State Industry Department at the office at his residence in Raipur, the Chief Minister said that as per the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission, the State would run the ‘Food Processing Mission’ while using its own resources.

He said that the State government has made a provision of Rs 12 crore for launching the State-level ‘Food Processing Mission’.

Singh said that the launching of Mission would help farmers get better prices for their farm produce and also open new job avenues for youth in the Food Processing sector.

Officials attending the meeting had stated that Food Processing Sector in Chhattisgarh is being seen as a ‘focus sector’ to ensure industrial diversity.

The Chhattisgarh government will also now promote use of solar photo voltaic power plants in cold storages in a bid to conserve huge quantum of energy consumed by such facilities in the State, officials had stated.

The project is to be implemented by Chhattisgarh Renewable Energy Development Agency (CREDA), officials stated.

The solar power plant having 50 Kw minimum capacity would be installed in a cold storage in the State meant for storing fruits, vegetables and flowers.

The cold storage would also be connected to a ‘remote monitoring’ mechanism and the data would be viewable in a desktop or even smart phones.