Haryana Encouraging Farmers to Use Latest Technology and Switch to Natural Farming: CM Khattar at NITI Aayog Meet

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday informed the NITI Aayog that the state government has taken several initiatives to encourage farmers to adopt natural farming and urged the Union government to promote organic farming across the nation.

During the 7th meeting of the governing council of NITI Aayog, which was held in Delhi under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Khattar urged the Centre to promote natural farming in the country. "We are shifting from chemical farming to natural farming as a result, of which so far 2,804 farmers have been registered on the natural farming portal," he said.

He also mentioned that Haryana, although being a small state, had significantly boosted the national economy. The minister said that Haryana has the highest per capita income among the main Indian states at Rs.2,74,635.

Khattar said from 2015-16 to 2020-21, the state’s growth rate has been continuously recorded as more than 6 percent, while Haryana has the highest manufacturing growth rate in the country is 10%.

The chief minister added that Haryana contributes about 15 percent to the ‘Central pool of foodgrains’, even though only 1.34 percent of the country's geographical area is covered by the state.

He further told that “Our agricultural growth rate is about 3.3 percent per annum and the state’s growth rate is about 8.7 percent,” these figures clearly show that the income of the state's farmers is continuously rising.

He said the percentage of horticulture and animal husbandry in the agricultural sector is rising and the state govt. is encouraging the use of the latest technology and crop diversification.

According to the chief minister, under the "Mera Pani-Meri Virasat" scheme, farmers who produce these crops in place of paddy are given incentives worth Rs.7,000 per acre. The minister said Rs.76 crore worth of incentives had been sent via DBT into the accounts of 74,133 farmers.

In the past two years, this scheme has resulted in the diversification of 46,249 hectares area. Incentives of Rs.10,000 are being given per hectare to grow pulses and oilseeds instead of millet (bajra). Additionally, 32,500 acres for pulses and 62,500 acres for maize have implemented crop diversification. Farmers that use the direct-seeded rice (DSR) technology to sow paddy receive a reward of Rs.10,000 per hectare. This saves about 25 to 30 per cent of water, said Khattar.

Khattar also said that Haryana has the second-highest per capita availability of milk in the country. ‘Pashu Kisan Credit Card Scheme’ is being issued on the lines of ‘Kisan Credit Card’. He added that the "Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Pashudhan Suraksha Yojana" had insured almost 3.40 lakh animals.

We have established 12 re-circulatory aquaculture systems and 20 biofloc units in Haryana since there is a lot of scope for growth in the fisheries industry. More than 2 lakh metric tonnes of fish were produced in the state in 2021–2022. The target is to increase it to 2.10 MT in 2022-23,” said Khattar.