The Haryana government has announced an increase of 19% in the budget allocation for agriculture and allied sector, to give a boost to the farm sector. Against Rs 2,699crore in revised estimates for 2016-17, an outlay of Rs 3,206 crore has been proposed in 2017-18.
The allocation includes Rs 1,516 crore for agriculture, Rs 747 crore for animal husbandry, Rs 458 crore for forests, Rs 397 crore for horticulture, and Rs 89 crore for fisheries, finance minister Capt Abhimanyu said, presenting his third consecutive budget in the state assembly.
The target of food grain production for 2016-17 has been fixed at 174.50 lakh metric tonnes. The farmers of the state have shown resilience, which is reflected in the reversal of the negative growth of 2% witnessed in agriculture and allied sector in 2014-15 to a positive growth of 3.2% in 2015-16 and 7% in 2016-17. He said, “Due to the hard work put in by farmers and government interventions, food grain production had increased by 7.2% from 152.36 lakh metric tonnes in 2014-15 to 163.33 lakh metric tonnes in 2015-16.”
The state is implementing Soil Testing Programme in a sustained manner, with a view to identifying the deficiency of major and micro nutrients in the soil. At present in the state, 34 Soil and Water Testing Laboratories (STL) are functioning.
In addition, during the 2016-17, 50 mini-soil-testing units have been procured. Also a new Static Soil Testing Laboratory is being set up at Gulha Cheeka in Kaithal. According to sources, under the Soil Health Card Scheme, 11.80 lakh soil samples have been collected, of which over five lakh soil samples have already been tested and prepared.
To double the area and triple the production of horticulture crops in 15 years, the state government has prepared “Horticulture Vision”, said Financial Minister. For which a Crop Cluster Development Programme (CCDP) has been prepared
for crop diversification and to increase farmers’ income, the government has declared 340 “Bagwani Villages” in 140 Crop Clusters.
