Finance Commission members meet progressive farmers, entrepreneurs in Solan

Solan, June 25

A team of the 16th Finance Commission, which is on a visit to the state, interacted with progressive farmers and entrepreneurs at Waknaghat today.

This team included commission members Ajay Narayan Jha, Dr Manoj Panda, Anne George Mathew and Dr Soumya Kanti Ghosh.

Apart from this, Commission Secretary Ritwik Pandey, Joint Secretary Rahul Jain and Joint Director Amrita were present on the occasion. They visited a food processing unit of Backyard Garden Private Limited at Waknaghat, set up under the Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Start-up Scheme. This unit was incubated at the Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (IHBT), Palampur, running under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

The main promoter of the company, Sahil Dutta, a young entrepreneur from Shimla, elaborated on his venture. Considering the potential and relevance of the project, it received a total grant of

Rs 26.82 lakh under the Agribusiness Promotion

Facility Matching Grant Scheme (ABPF-MGS).

It is a component of the ambitious Horticulture Development Project of Rs 1,060 crore funded by the World Bank to provide support to agri-entrepreneurs and increase the productivity, quality, value addition chain and market access of horticulture commodities. He said land had been taken on lease from the Industries Department for 95 years. The plant had the capacity to produce 2,500 litres of juice per day, and other food capacity of 500 kg per day, he added. The unit has all essential components and special machines installed to process fresh fruits such as apple, mango, litchi, rhododendron, amla, beetroot and papaya in a hygienic and natural manner. Presently, this unit has provided employment to 13 persons in the plant and 10 persons for sales in nearby states.

The team later visited Rahon village of Dangri gram panchayat situated in the fertile valley of Saproon. In this model agricultural village, a community of seven farming families has transformed the agricultural economy from subsistence farming to diversified farming, bringing about revolutionary changes in the farming practices on their approximately 70 bighas of land. Instead of the traditional mono-crop system of grains, which yielded only thousands per bigha, farmers here grew hybrids tomatoes, cauliflower, beans, peas and other crops. They have undertaken diversification by

cultivating carnation among pea hybrids and high-value vegetables, fruits such as apple and kiwi, and flowers, yielding income in the lakhs of rupees per bigha from their land. This integrated farming has brought a sea change in the lives of farmers, besides eliminating dependence on a single crop. According to the farmers, polytunnels had been set up for raising nursery and polyhouses for production. The farmers also demonstrated the vermicompost-making process and the use of solar fencing to protect their fields from wild animals and stray cattle.

According to the farmers, Solan-based Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) assisted them in marketing vegetables, fruits and flowers in market outlets like Big-Basket, Mahindra Outlet and Amazon.

Commission member Ajay Narayan Jha, while appreciating the efforts of the farmers, said Himachal Pradesh had been a leading state in agriculture and horticulture. The diversification undertaken by farmers here had encouraged farmers in other states to adopt the same, he added.