Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu launched a simplified registration form to enroll farmers in natural farming in the State during MLAs priorities meeting here today. He said that it could be filled online or offline by the farmers. The Chief Minister said the interested farmers could now connect with the natural farming easily by filling up this form.
The registration forms, which will generate specific information about the land, crops grown, breed of animals kept by the farmers and some other details regarding training in natural farming, will be distributed amongst farmers in all the Panchayats in the State. He said this will give further impetus to natural farming in 2025-26 in the state.
Sh. Sukhu said that the State government recently procured 398.976 MT naturally grown maize from 1508 farmers at Rs 30 per Kg, which is the highest Minimum Support Price (MSP) in the country. He said that a similar procedure would be adopted to procure naturally produced wheat in the ensuing season at a MSP of Rs 40 per Kg.
He said that one kilogram and five kilogram packets of the naturally produced maize flour are available under the brand name 'Him Bhog'. He said that 38.225 MT of maize flour has been sold through 1054 Fair Price Shops and 73.52 MT has been sold through Wholesale units of HP state Civil Supplies Corporation Ltd till 1st February, 2025.
Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Minister Chander Kumar said the ATMA staff will verify the forms filled up by the farmers in the field. He said the form will be connected to CETARA-NF (Certified Evaluation Tool of Agriculture Resources Analysis of Natural Farming) portal of PK3Y.
Revenue Minister Jagat Singh Negi, Ayush Minister Yadvender Goma, Vice Chairman State Planning board, Bhawani Singh Pathania, Deputy Chief Whip Kewal Singh Pathania, MLAs, Chief Secretary Prabodh Saxena and other senior officers were present on the occasion.