Govt focussing on millet, kiwi, dragon fruit & apple cultivation in mountainous areas: Joshi
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE | Dehradun
Agriculture minister Ganesh Joshi has said that the Uttarakhand State Millet policy- 2025- 26, Kiwi policy, Dragon Fruit Cultivation Scheme, Chief Minister Formalisation of Micro food processing Enterprises (CMFME) and Post Plucking Management of Apple Scheme will give a boost to self-employment opportunities in the mountainous areas of the State and will help in reducing the menace of migration.
Addressing a Press conference held at the secretariat on Friday, the minister said that the Uttarakhand State millet policy will be implemented in two phases in the State. In the first phase work on 30,000 hectares of land in 24 blocks of the State will be done till 2027-28 and in the second phase 40,000 hectares of land in 44 blocks of the State will be taken up during 2028-29 to 2030-31.
This policy will be implemented in 11 mountainous ( barring Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar) districts of the State with a total budget of Rs 134.89 crore. Joshi said that Manduwa, Jhangora, Ramdana, Konni and Cheena crops have been included in it. The government will provide the seed and bio fertilizer on 80 per cent subsidy to farmers and a sum of Rs 4,000 per hectare will be given on line sowing and Rs 2,000 per hectare on normal sowing of millets. He claimed that the department aims to provide the benefit to three lakh millet farmers in the State.
Informing about the Uttarakhand Kiwi Policy, the minister said that it will remain applicable till 2030-31 and include 11 mountainous districts of the State. The farmers will be provided a 70 per cent subsidy calculated on Rs 12 lakh per acre for setting up a Kiwi garden. The farmers should have minimum two Nali and maximum 100 Nali of land for the Kiwi plantation and the project will be operated with a sum of Rs 894 crore. The Minister said that the department aims to include 3,500 hectare of land under the Kiwi policy and it will benefit about 17,500 farmers. The government intends to increase the production of Kiwi from existing 382 metric tonnes to 33,000 metric tonnes.
Similarly under the Dragon fruit cultivation scheme, the government will provide 80 per cent subsidy to farmers calculated on setting up a garden. The farmers should have minimum five Nali and maximum 20 Nali of land for setting up a dragon fruit garden. A sum of Rs 15 crore has been proposed for this plan. At present Dragon fruit is being cultivated in 35 acre of land and the department plans to increase it to 225 acre till 2025-26. The department has earmarked Udham Singh Nagar, Haridwar, Nainital, Dehradun, Bageshwar, Pauri and Tehri districts for the dragon fruit scheme.
The minister added that under the CMFME, 25 per cent subsidy in addition to the existing subsidy given on PMFME will be given on establishment of a food micro processing unit and grading and sorting units in the State.
Joshi said that under the Post Plucking Management for Apple Scheme, the department has set up a target of constructing 22 CA storage and 180 sorting and grading units in seven years. The scheme will cover 76 blocks of 11 mountainous districts.
