Haryana to expand area under organic farming

Chandigarh, Feb 18 (UNI) In order to give a major fillip to organic farming, the Haryana Agriculture Department has decided to bring 5000 hectares of area under its cultivation in the next three years at a cost of Rs 11.20 crore and several schemes has been initiated in this direction.

A spokesman of the Agriculture Department said that the farmers of Sirsa district had shown a keen interest for adopting organic farming and they were coming forward to avail the benefit of the schemes launched by the State Government. About 1000 acre of area had been brought under organic farming in the district. The farmers were being given financial assistance of Rs 1000 per acre for the cultivation of organic crop.

He said that this amount was being made available on the use of certified seeds. The registered agencies certify the products for being organic after thorough inspection of plants and products. He said that so far farmers had submitted applications for availing the grant to cultivate organic crop over an area of 44 acres in the district and they would soon be provided the financial assistance.

He said that to encourage the small and marginal farmers for cultivation of organic farming, they were being given Rs 1.44 lakh to set up vermin compost units. He said that a sum of Rs 1200 was being provided to the farmers for preparing the beds for earth worm in their fields.

He said that to prepare the manure for organic farming, as many as 70 bio-gas plants were being set up in the district. The small and marginal farmers belonging to scheduled castes families were being given a financial assistance of Rs. 3500 for setting up one such plant and the other category farmers Rs. 2700 per plant. In Sirsa, the farmers had been availed a sum of over Rs. 2 lakh for this purpose.

The spokesman said that farmers were also given 50 per cent subsidy on the purchase of bio-pesticides for the cultivation of organic products. This grant was made available under the Rashtriya Khadya Suraksha Mission. Under this scheme those farmers who purchase bio pesticides from the registered companies would be given subsidy of 50 per cent, he added.

UNI JN MMS1904