Govt committed to promote natural farming, says Sukhu

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu today said the state government was committed to promote natural farming and one lakh families would be linked with natural farming in the coming year. This was stated by the Chief Minister while chairing a review meeting of the Agriculture Department here today. He directed the department to map farmers cultivating wheat and maize through natural farming methods across the state.

The Chief Minister stated that all farms under the Agriculture Department in the state would be fully developed for natural farming by next year, which would focus solely on producing seeds for natural farming. He instructed establishment of high-tech storage centres for wheat and maize produced through natural farming. He said one lakh families would be linked with natural farming in the coming year and also directed to explore possibilities to set up a solar power plant in Tal at Hamirpur.

Sukhu said that data collection on natural farming practitioners would be conducted at the block-level which would be integrated with the Him Parivar database. “Himachal is on its way to becoming a leading state in natural farming and the state government was leaving no stone unturned to achieve this goal with a view to benefit maximum farming community,” he said.

The CM said that for disease management in the crops grown naturally, it was important to adopt natural treatment methods. He stressed developing a certification process for natural farming seeds and directed the department to establish a high-end laboratory for testing soil and seeds to support natural farming initiatives.

He said that to strengthen the rural economy, the state government was planning to open processing plants for turmeric and ginger. Apart from this, the government was also contemplating to start dairy-based degree courses at Chaudhary Sarvan Kumar Agricultural University, Palampur to encourage youth in this sector.

The Chief Minister was apprised that 3,989 quintals of maize grown through natural farming was purchased during 2024-25 Kharif season. The target for the upcoming Rabi season has been set at 8050 quintals. Agriculture Minister Chander Kumar, Deputy Chief Whip Kewal Singh Pathania and MLA Sanjay Awasthi and other senior officers were present in the meeting. —