To make the farmers capable of packaging and marketing their own produce, Haryana Government has urged the Union Government to open “Agri Business School” in every state.
The state Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister, OP Dhankar, while speaking at the World Food India-2017 Programme here urged the Centre to open such schools.
The programme was organised under the chairmanship of the Union Food Processing Industry Minister, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, here. Dhankar said that Haryana Government would open such school in Hisar this year.
Dhankar said, “In order to make the farmers financially strong, big companies should take the farmer forward by making him a shareholder. We want all villages in Haryana to be identified with the product produced by its farmers.”
He said that, apart from enhancing crop management, technology should also be made known to the farmers so that they can earn more by modernising farming operations. Haryana surrounds Delhi on three sides. The route from Delhi to Chandigarh is considered the Best Food Highway.
Stressing the need for teaching marketing to farmers, he said besides companies, the government should also take this initiative.
The Minister said, “The Government wants to bring the product of our farmers to the Delhi NCR market with Peri-urban culture. For this, we are working on peri-urban agriculture concept worth Rs 500 crore, and it is expected that World Food India will fulfil the dreams of Haryana.”
Complementing the farmers for selling their produce on the Delhi-Chandigarh Food Highway, Dhankar said such farmers should be assisted. Processing food is a huge market on the highway and farmers should be directly involved in it.
Source:http://www.dailypioneer.com/
