The Uttarakhand government has a target to certify 31% of the total agricultural land as organic in 2021 to expand the area under organic farming,
seminar on State Focus Paper 2021-22 by the National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD) with a theme of collectivisation of agricultural produce for enhancing farmers’ income.“At present, the total area certified for organic farming is about 23 per cent, which would be increased to 31 per cent by the end of 2021.
This is a significant move because today, 40% of the country’s total organic farming is being done in Uttarakhand which is also the first state in the country to have an act on organic farming,” said UniyalOn the steps taken by the government to improve agriculture, especially in the hilly areas of the state, he said, “The agriculture department is working on mechanisms to enable the self-help groups (SHG)s to sell their products directly to the tourists and to develop zone-based farming”“
There are about 6,000 SHGs working in the state producing various products. We are working to develop a system in which they would be able to sell their products directly to a large number of tourists visiting the state every year without the involvement of middlemen,” said Uniyal
“We are also working to develop zone-based farming under which an area growing the same crop would be termed as a zone which would help in selling and marketing the produce in a much better way,” he said
Uniyal.Per capita income rises to ₹20,2895E. per capita income of the state is “slated to increase from Rs 1,91,450 (2018-19) to Rs 2,02,895 (2019-20) with Haridwar district having the highest per capita income and Rudraprayag district having the lowest.”He also informed that the total credit projection for Uttarakhand in NABARD has increased to Rs 27160.16 crore for 2021-22 from Rs 24656.53 crore in 2020-22.