Centre working consistently towards doubling farmers' income

Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh today said the Union government is working consistently towards doubling the income of farmers and animal rearers.

Singh was here to lay foundation stone of the country's first sex-sorted semen laboratory in Rishikesh under the Rashtriya Gokul Mission Yojana.

The laboratory will be the first of its kind facility in the country where the technique of producing female calf through artificial insemination in animals will be used.

Singh said such an initiative will help increase milk production and boost farmers' income, the Union Minister said.

The minister said the Centre has been working consistently over the past four years for farmers welfare.

It is because of the government'sefforts that more than 700 agricultural scientists in the country have come out of laboratories and reached field level for ground testing, he said.

Animal husbandry is the backbone of the rural economy but there is lack of productivity in the sector, he said, adding a laboratory of this kind will help improve the situation.

Addressing the programme, Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said the Rashtriya Gokul Mission is to conserve the indigenous cow breeds and enhance their milk productivity. The sex sorted semen laboratory being set up in Rishikesh will play an important role in this, he said.

Through animal husbandry, the target of doubling farmers' income can also be achieved, the CM said.