DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

Haryana Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Minister Shyam Singh Rana said the State Government is focusing on awareness and training programmes for farmers and officials in the first phase of Natural Farming Scheme. In the second phase, it will take comprehensive steps for certification, branding/packaging and marketing of natural farming products.

Besides, the State Government will link HAFED and Haryana Agro Industries Corporation (HAIC) with Farmer Producer Organizations/Natural Farming Groups to help farmers get better price for their natural produce.

Sh. Rana was replying to a calling attention motion related to 'Importance of Natural Farming' in the Haryana Assembly today.

The Agriculture Minister informed that Haryana State Seed Certification Agency has been nominated by the Government of India for certification of natural farming products. The State Government has also constituted a committee to explore the formula/fixation of MSP for natural farming products or to provide incentives to farmers to compensate for the loss of yield at the beginning of adopting natural farming.

Giving information about the steps taken by the state government to create interest of farmers towards natural farming, he said that the state government is implementing natural farming from the year 2022-23 under the State Scheme 'Promoting Sustainable Agriculture Strategic Initiatives and Farmers' Welfare Fund', so that farmers can be made aware to adopt chemical-free agriculture.

He informed that the main objective of this scheme is to promote climate-friendly farming in harmony with nature, reduce the cost of cultivation, make farming a sustainable livelihood option, improve soil fertility, micro flora and fauna, water holding capacity, water infiltration and percolation, promote chemical-free agriculture, reduce soil, environmental and aquatic pollution and create awareness in the farming community to adopt natural farming.

He said that to achieve these objectives of Natural Farming Scheme, the State Government has started large-scale awareness campaigns, farmer seminars, workshops, natural farming fairs and exposure visits for officials and farmers. 720 Kisan Goshtis, 22 workshops and one state level fair have been organized since the year 2022 and more than 35,000 farmers have participated in these

programmes.

He further informed that the methods of natural farming are quite different from the prevalent chemical-based farming, hence farmers need extensive training in view of the challenges in adopting the new system. Therefore, the state government has established four training centers at Gurukul-Kurukshetra, Hameti-Jind, Gharaunda-Karnal and Mangiana-Sirsa to enhance the awareness and training skills of farmers and Agriculture Department officials. 9707 participants have been trained so far since the year 2022.

(editor@dailyworld.in)