Haryana government is going to encourage the use of new technology in farming, including use of drones and natural farming across the state.
Underlining the use of new technology, CM Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday said, “Estimation of agricultural crops, digitisation of land documents and use of Kisan Drones for spraying pesticides and nutrients would be promoted. The Haryana government has already constituted a Drone Authority in the state. The union budget has also focused on natural farming instead of using chemicals. Chemical free natural farming will be promoted across the country, in the first phase, special attention will be given to the farmers’ lands falling under 5 km wide corridors adjacent to the river Ganga”.
Speaking on the union budget’s significance for farmers, Khattar said, “In the Union Budget presented yesterday, several steps have been taken keeping in mind the interests of the farmers. Wheat procurement in Rabi season 2021-22 and estimated procurement of paddy in Kharif 2021-22 will include 1208 lakh metric tonnes of wheat and paddy from 163 lakh farmers and Rs 2.37 lakh crore of MSP price will be paid directly into the accounts of farmers. It is noteworthy that in Haryana, the payment for the procurement of crops is already being made directly to the accounts of the farmers”.
Talking about digital and hi-tech services for farmers, Khattar said, “A new scheme would be launched in PPP mode under which digital and hi-tech services would be provided to the farmers. For this, public sector research and extension institutions as well as private agricultural technology companies and stakeholders in the agricultural value chain will be involved.
Assistance will be provided from NABARD for mixed capital fund created under co-investment model. The objective of this fund will be to finance start-ups related to agriculture and rural enterprises suitable for agricultural product value chain. The activities of these start-ups would include, inter alia, providing decentralized machinery on rental basis to farmers at farm level and IT based support for FPOs”.