Delhi farmers will get trained in new agricultural tech

NEWDELHI: Come August and farmers in the national capital will learn new techniques of crop production. Under the ‘Smart Krishi Yojna’ scheme, the government plans to develop three demonstration farms where farmers will be taught new cultivation techniques using the latest technology and machinery.

In Delhi, agriculture and horticulture contributes about 1% of the state gross domestic product (GDP). According to census 2011, Delhi has 20,000 farmers and 30,000 hectares of land is under agricultural activities.

“The cropping pattern of Delhi includes wheat, paddy and mustard. There is a good scope for their market value, hence, intensification of their cultivation is required to meet the domestic consumption. Under this scheme, a first in Delhi, farmers will be provided technology to adopt high-yielding, high-quality varieties of agricultural and horticultural crops,” an official from the government’s development department, said.

According to the proposal, the demonstration farms will have training halls, godowns, mushroom cultivation labs, bee-keeping training-cum-production units, solar pumps, and a packaging house with grading and packing machines.

The aim is to make farmers capable of enhancing their income and reduce supply dependency on neighbouring states, she said.

A budget allocation of Rs 10 crore has already been made against an estimated project cost of Rs 85 crore.

The department is now in the process of appointing a consultant to finalise the specific features of the scheme.

A typical demonstration farm needs 10-15 acres of land. Officials said the government was scouting for land parcels.

“Farmers will be taught urban kitchen gardening for which the government will provide free kitchen gardening kits to interested farmers and even resident welfare associations,” an official said on condition of anonymity.

The proposal talks about teaching a section of farmers to shift their cropping pattern from cultivation of agriculture crops to horticultural and floricultural crops as they yield better returns with limited resources.

An ‘agriculture policy’ for Delhi is also in the offing, which will lay guidelines for the overall development of agriculture and horticulture in the national capital.

“Last year, the department upgraded its soil testing lab. Earlier, soil samples were being tested only on three parameters, which have now been increased to 12 to help farmers of the city,” an official said.