Horticulture provides nutrient-rich crops to people and double income to farmers: Radha Mohan Singh

New Delhi, October 17: Horticulture sector is one of the major drivers of growth in Agriculture sector and it provides nutrient-rich crops to the people and doubles the income of farmers. This was said by Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh during a presentation on CHAMAN in New Delhi.

 

Notably, a pioneer project called CHAMAN has been launched three years back by the Government was implemented by Mahalanob is National Crop Forecast Centre (MNCFC) using remote sensing technology and is likely to be completed in March 2018.

During the presentation, Minister Radha Mohan Singh said that horticulture opportunities in the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors. Thus it has gained significant prominence in the recent years. It is a matter of pride that India is the Second largest producer of Vegetables and Fruits in the world and is First in the production of Banana, Mango, Lime and Lemon, Papaya and Okra.

Minister Radha Mohan Singh informed that CHAMAN is a pioneer project in which remote sensing technique is being used for strategic development of horticulture sector as also to increase the farmers’ income. It gives a methodology for preparing reliable estimates of horticulture crops. The Union Agriculture Minister said that this methodology will help the farmers to generate better income.

The Minister further said that the income of farmers will increase by growing selected crops in the highly suitable areas identified under CHAMAN in the current Jhum /wastelands. Besides this, the Post-Harvest damages of farmers would be significantly reduced by the creation of desired Post Harvest Infrastructures like cold storages etc. thereby increasing their income.

Minister Radha Mohan Singh informed that it is proposed to hand over the interim reports of North Eastern States Site Suitability Studies to the respective State Governments by January 2018 for immediate consideration.

Singh told that on completion of this project, the methodology developed for seven important horticulture crops would be made operational in all the States. The remote sensing technology would be extended to other horticulture crops in future.

Radha Mohan Singh also told that apart from these, various flagship programmes of the Ministry such as PMFBY, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY), Soil Health Card, Rashtriya KrishiVikasYojana (RKVY) etc. are using remote sensing, GIS and GPS tools for their effective implementation.