The Uttarakhand
government has finalised a policy to double income of small and marginal
farmers in the next five years by encouraging them to adopt the best
farm practices, with the overall plan of keeping a check on forced
migration from hills
Dehradun: The Uttarakhand government has
finalised a policy to double income of small and marginal farmers in
the next five years by encouraging them to adopt the best farm
practices, with the overall plan of keeping a check on forced migration
from hills.
“The policy that we have formulated aims to ensure a
paradigm shift in all practices relating to farm and horticulture so
that income of small and marginal farmers can be doubled by 2022,”
agriculture and horticulture secretary D Senthil Pandiyan told HT in an
interview. “The broader aim of the new holistic farm policy is to check
forced migration from the hills.”
Other than providing insurance
cover against crop failures in the event of natural disasters, Pandiyan
said the policy “also aims to ensure that farmers are” provided best
agricultural tools, fertilisers and pesticides to augment their produce
“It’s
a detailed document that provides solutions to all kinds of problems
affecting the hill agriculture such as its dependence on rain besides
frequent climatic changes and different soil conditions,” Pandiyan said,
adding the farm policy, for instance, seeks to popularise rainwater
harvesting techniques among farmers so that they could also sow crops
off season.
Besides, it “seeks to provide facilities” for cluster
farming, so farmers can be encouraged to grow different types of crops
suitable to soil and agro-climatic conditions prevailing in different
areas. “For that, we have roped in experts from agricultural
universities and institutes to prepare a databank of seeds of different
crops that can be grown in accordance with requirements of soil types
and agro-climatic conditions.”
Similarly, soil of different areas
would be tested and soil health cards provided to farmers. “A clear
understanding of which crop will suit which soil and agro-climatic
condition will also lead to cost reduction in farm inputs like
fertilisers, equipment, seed and energy.”
All these scientific
farm practices would be propagated among farmers by experts and
extension workers. “Those (farm practices) will also be mentioned in
detail in handbooks which are to be distributed among farmers.”
The
policy would have its emphasis on integrated farm system model. “That
means farmers will be provided facilities so that they get additional
income from allied activities like dairy farming, poultry, fisheries bee
keeping and mushroom cultivation,” Pandyan said, adding that mechanised
farming equipment would be provided so that drudgery could be reduced.
Hill
farmers would get facilities to take up organic farming in a big way.
“As it is, organic farming is traditionally practised in the hills as
local farmers seldom use chemical fertilizers,” he said, adding that
post-harvesting management and marketing of farm produce would be other
two key features of the farm policy.
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