Himachal vegetable plan is for all seasons

A revenue of Rs 600 crore to come from off-season vegetables in 2006

The Himachal Pradesh agriculture department has earned an additional revenue of Rs 175 crore over the past three years under a new plan that encourages off-season cultivation of high value vegetables, officials said.

The area under off-season vegetable cultivation in the state increased from 35,220 hectares in March 2003 to 47,000 hectares in March 2006.

It led to an increase in production from 6.21 lakh tonnes to 9 lakh tonnes, yielding an additional income of Rs 175 crore, an agriculture department spokesperson said.

An estimated revenue of Rs 600 crore would be generated from off-season cultivation of high value vegetables this year. The production is also likely to increase by 85,000 tonnes.

The Himachal Pradesh agriculture department encourages diversification of cultivable land by providing training to the farmers and simultaneously expanding the area under value added crops.

The exercise covers an area of 50,000 hectares and aims to produce 10 lakh tonnes of off-season vegetables by the end of 10th five year plan.

The state government is also encouraging the use of organic farming techniques.

For this, a new bio-control laboratory is being set up at Mandi for testing and certification of organic produce.

So far, 5,000 farmers have been registered in Shimla district.

Block level "technology teams", various self-help groups, and farmers' organisations have been formed to identify the problem areas and to prepare research plans for each district in the state.