State level farm machinery bank fair begins

DAINIK NATION BUREAU

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat has inaugurated the state level farm machinery Bank fair and seminar at parade ground, Dehradun on Friday. He also reviewed the exhibition showcasing agriculture mechanization, various kinds of vegetables, fruits, local products linked with livelihood of the people.

Rawat said that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged to double the income of farmers by 2022 and provide electricity, water and toilets in all homes. To fulfill his pledge, several schemes are being run by the government for the welfare of the farmers. State has received more budget for next three years for agriculture related works that was not received in past 17 years.

Under Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Co-operative Farmers Welfare Scheme the State Government has distributed Rs two lakh loan each at 2% interest to more than 1.50 lakh marginal and border district farmers worth Rs 600 crores. Agriculture mechanization equipment’s will be available to the farmers through Farm Machinery Banks which will help in value addition.

CM said that ‘Chakbandi’ (land consolidation) on small and scattered farm land in hilly areas would benefit farmers. State government is ready for ‘Chakbandi’ where the farmers of the villages can exchange the land among themselves for ‘Chakbandi’. Farmers can earn good income from tubular and aromatic plant farming and for it is important to promote aromatic farming. He said that most of the farming in the state is dependent on rains and the need for the water is increasing every day for which we have to pay attention to water conservation through rain water harvesting. He said that use of modern agriculture technology and value addition of local products was necessary.

Uttarakhand Agriculture Minister Subodh Uniyal said that through agriculture mechanization the cost of farming can be reduced, and the income of the farmers can be increased considerably.  Farming in hilly areas is dependent on women and agriculture mechanization would help in reducing their burden. They  can get agriculture machines with ease and the state government has decided to set up farm machinery banks in every Nyaya panchayats in the first phase.

The group of eight farmers will get sum of Rs 10 lakh from farm machinery bank to buy agriculture mechanized equipment on which they will get 80 percent subsidy while the other 20 percent will be spent by the farmer group or by some NGO through bank loan. He said that 370 groups have been identified for promoting agriculture mechanizations and 470 additional groups will be selected by March 2019.