[Himachal News] Himachal gets 13 crore for agriculture

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Arvind Panwar

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Jun 19, 2008, 5:21:08 AM6/19/08

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SHIMLA: The Union Ministry of Agriculture has approved a sum of Rs.13.33 crore for Himachal Pradesh towards macro management of agriculture for the current year, Director of Agriculture J.C. Rana disclosed here on Monday.

Giving details of the schemes approved under this programme, he said that crop improvement programme would get Rs.3.86 crore, agriculture mechanisation Rs.1.78 crore, integrated nutrient management Rs.2.46 crore, watershed development programme Rs.3 crore, water conservation and harvesting and lifting Rs.1.52 crore, organic farming Rs.29 lakh and crop diversification Rs.40.25 lakh.

He said that in order to increase productivity, high yielding seeds were being provided.

Subsidy of Rs.600 on maize, Rs.800 on pulses and Rs.200 on paddy per quintal is also being provided. The agriculture department is promoting organic farming through large-scale production of vermin compost for which vermin culture is being provided free of cost.

Mr. Rana said that for accelerating growth in agriculture, Rs.15 crore have been approved under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna. He said that for expansion of area under irrigation, Rs.13 crore would be spent under RIDF (NABARD) programme. Rs.1.20 crore is being spent for promotion of maize production.

In Himachal Pradesh 69 per cent of population is directly dependent on agriculture. A target of 16.38 lakh tones of food grains has been fixed for the year 2008-09. The department has also set a target of 11.44 lakh tones of vegetable production in an area of 55,000 hectares, said the director.