Need for documenting farmers’ success stories- Rupala 

Nauni/Solan: Himachal Pradesh has bagged the awards for Soil Health and Best Initiative in Agriculture Marketing and Practices.

Awards were announced at the Progressive Agri Leadership Summit 2021 held on Saturday at the Dr. YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni. Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying was the Chief Guest.

The event was organized by the Krishi Udyami Krishak Vikas Chamber in association with Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry (UHF), Nauni and Sikkim State Cooperative Supply and Marketing Federation Ltd.

Haryana bagged the awards for Risk Management and Initiative in Brand Development, while Union Territory Jammu and Kashmir was awarded for Saffron Promotion and Production. Punjab was awarded for Crop residue management.

Uttar Pradesh bagged the award for the Best initiative in Animal Health while Uttarakhand took home the award for organic farming.

A total number of 42 awards were distributed at the summit under different categories- States, Educational Organization, Corporate: Agriculture & Allied Sectors, Progressive Farmer/ Village, Farmer Producer Organization, Agri Journalism Award (Awareness & Solution-Oriented), Government Organization/ PSU, Excellence in Academic and Krishi Bhaivshay Ratan Puruskar Award.

Union Minister Parshottam Rupala praised the Himachal Government for its natural farming initiatives and also appreciated the efforts of Sikkim in the promotion of organic farming. He said

“India could become a major player in the export of natural and organic produce to foreign countries where the demand for such products was increasing.”

The Union Minister suggested a need for documentation of success stories of farmers along with novel agri-innovations so that these could be shared with the government for future policy formulation.  

Virender Kanwar, Agriculture Minister of Himachal Pradesh apprised Union Minister about the state’s efforts in strengthening and promoting small and marginal farmer entrepreneurs. He demanded making policies for hill farmers.

JP Dalal, Haryana Agriculture Minister talked about the crop insurance and compensation scheme of his government.