Better marketing arrangements should be made so that the farmers get a good price for their produce in the field of agriculture and horticulture. To double the income of the farmers, special attention should be paid to promote high value crops. Encourage farmers to produce more millets. Agriculture, Horticulture and other related departments should work in coordination to strengthen the economy of the farmers. Officers should come to the meeting with full preparation, any laxity towards work will not be tolerated. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami gave instructions to the officers during the review of the short, medium and long term roadmap of agriculture and horticulture to achieve the goals of Strong Uttarakhand / 25 in the Secretariat.
The Chief Minister said that special attention should be paid to increasing the production of millets in the state, its demand is increasing rapidly, millets will play an important role in increasing the income of farmers. They should also be encouraged to have millets in three-star, four-star and five-star hotels. Proper arrangements should be made to buy millets at packs and purchase centers. Those women of self-help groups who will buy manduwa from farmers at minimum support price, they should get incentive soon. He said that the state has all natural and traditional resources for millets production. Work should be done in the direction of making Uttarakhand a role model in the field of millets.
The Chief Minister expressed displeasure over the slow work progress under the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund. He gave strict instructions to the officials of the Agriculture Department to make a strong action plan to achieve the target set in it. Under this, attention should be paid towards simplification of procedures so that farmers do not face any inconvenience in taking loans. The Chief Minister said that a meeting of Forest Department, Urban Development and other related departments should be held soon to save the crops from damage caused by monkeys.
During the review of the roadmap of the Horticulture Department, the Chief Minister directed the officials to work on the establishment of polyhouses in the state under the campaign. The cabinet has decided to give 70 percent subsidy to the farmers for this. He said that the fruits, flowers and vegetables produced in these polyhouses will be sent across the country. For this, it has been decided to set up mandis in Garhwal and Kumaon. The progress of work on polyhouse will also be reviewed soon. The Chief Minister said that special attention should be paid to branding, packaging and marketing of products to promote local products of Uttarakhand. Work should be done expeditiously under the Kiwi and Apple mission. There are many possibilities in the state in the field of silence. Silent rearing is a good medium to increase the income of farmers, special efforts are needed to work in this direction. He said that if high quality saplings are being taken by the farmers from outside, it should be ensured that they are paid on time through DBD.
Cabinet Minister Ganesh Joshi, Additional Chief Secretary Radha Raturi, Secretary R.K. Meenakshi Sundaram, Shailesh Bagoli, Vinay Shankar Pandey, Dipendra Chowdhary, Additional Secretary Ranveer Singh Chauhan, Vijay Kumar Jogdande, Agriculture, Horticulture and concerned officers were present.
