Himachal Pradesh: 9.61 lakh families of farmers to be covered under natural farming by 2022, says CM Jai Ram Thakur

SHIMLA: Himachal Pradesh chief minister Jai Ram Thakur said on Tuesday that the state government was contemplating to cover all the 9.61 lakh families of farmers under natural farming by 2022.
He said that natural farming was a complete paradigm shift from traditional farming which involves various cropping inputs. He said that continuous use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers have increased the yield of crops but have triggered negative impacts on soil as well as environment. He said that natural farming emphasises on natural growth of various crops without the use of fertilizers and pesticides.
Thakur said this while presiding over a meeting of the apex state-level committee for monitoring of Prakritik Kheti Khushal Kisan Yojna in Shimla. He said that during his first budget for the year 2018-19, he had allocated Rs 25 crore for promotion of natural farming in the state.
The CM said that the scheme envisages increasing farm income in harmony with nature with no use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. He said that agriculture plays a significant role in the economy of the state with over 67 per cent population directly depending on agriculture.
He said that natural farming not only helps in providing hygienic and chemical free fruit and vegetables to the farmers, but also gives them remunerative prices for their produce. He said that the state government had set a target of covering 50,000 families under natural farming during 2019 but succeeded in covering about 55000 families.
He said that target has been fixed to cover two lakh farmer families under natural farming during the current year. He said that out of total 3,226 panchayats in the state, 2,934 panchayats have been covered under Subhash Palekar Natural Farming.
Jai Ram Thakur said that appropriate training was also being provided to the farmers regarding natural farming. He said that 72,193 farmers have been trained for natural farming during 2019-20 against the target of 50 thousand farmers. He said that about two thousand training camps were organized during the 2019-20.
He said that actual training camps were not possible due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Regular video camps and awareness campaigns through social media were conducted to motivate the farmers to adopt natural farming. He said that personal contact with trained farmers and meeting with small groups of farmers adopting natural farming were also held during this period. He said that the state government would also consider providing a separate market place for farmers to facilitate them in selling their natural produce.
He said that the state government was also providing a subsidy of 25 per cent on purchase of indigenous breeds of cows which would not only help in supplementing the income of the farmers but would also help in natural farming.