Hisar, July 31: Haryana government has decided to introduce crop insurance scheme for all crops except wheat and paddy, Chief Minister O P Chautala said today. Speaking at a seminar on 'contract farming' at Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, Chautala also said it would be necessary to enact a law for effective implementation of contract farming.
Urging the companies engaged in agro-processing to sign contracts with the farmers for cultivation of non-traditional crops, he said the concept of contract farming would also solve the problem of marketing. He said the government had also decided to set up an agricultural export zone for basmati rice due to its huge export potential and all formalities in this regard had been completed.
He said the government had concentrated for a long time to increase the production of wheat and paddy so as to attain self-sufficiency in foodgrain production, but it had led to the problem of storage and marketing. More than 53 per cent of the cultivable area was under paddy and wheat in Haryana. The continued fall in the water table an depleting quality of soil had necessitated diversification of crops, he said.
He urged the farmers to take up cultivation of medicinal plants as Haryana had ample potential for development of this sector on contract basis. Bureau Report