Gujarat Foundation Day
Natural Farming Training Maha Abhiyan to begin from the rural level on 1st May
Governor and Chief Minister interacts with District Collectors-District Development Officers of the state through the CM Dashboard
For the farmers of 14,455 gram panchayat areas of the state Free training campaign will be conducted at the rural level by creating a cluster of 10 villages each
Efforts are needed to make Gujarat a fully organic farming state: Governor
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Gandhinagar, Monday: Gujarat is a ‘Model’ state for the entire country. With the aim that nation takes inspiration from Gujarat in natural farming, work has been started on ‘Mission Mode’ for natural farming in Gujarat. Governor of Gujarat Shri Acharya Devvrat and Gujarat Chief Minister Shri Bhupendra Patel today interacted with all District Collectors and District Development Officers through CM Dashboard and gave detailed guidance about Natural Farming Training Maha Abhiyan to be started from the rural level on the next foundation day of Gujarat 1st May.
Governor Said that, as Dang district is a fully natural farming district, efforts are required to make the entire state a fully natural farming state. Even Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi is constantly concerned to increase the prevalence of natural farming methods and is also guiding, there is a need to start work on ‘Mission Mode’ in Gujarat now. Natural farming system is necessary for the welfare of farmers, health and wellness of people, conservation of mother earth and cow.
Requesting all District Collectors and District Development Officers to be more alert and work for implementing natural farming Governor said that, it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive review of the situation of organic farming every month in all districts. To ensure that organic farming farmers get proper market for their produce he instructed to set up a special market system for two days in a week at village level, taluka level and district level. He also requested the Collectors-DDO to visit the farm-wadi of the farmer doing the best organic farming in that district once a week.
On 1st May the Foundation day of Gujarat a free training campaign will be conducted across the state covering the farmers of 14455 gram panchayat areas of the state. 1473 clusters of 10 villages each have been formed for all the villages of the state. 10 Proficient farmers practicing organic farming in any of the villages; Both of whom the State Government has given special training as ‘Master Trainers’, along with an expert representative of the Department of ATMA-Krishi, will impart training on organic farming free of cost to the farmers in the ten villages allotted to them.
The Chief Minister said State government welfare schemes may be fruitful-beneficial for five to twenty-five years, but the state government’s efforts towards natural farming systems can benefit the people for generations. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given the mantra of ‘Back to Nature’, referring to it, he said that nature has the solution to many problems. Nowadays serious diseases are seen in any person at any age. Excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides has created serious health problems. He emphasized that natural farming method is very necessary in such situation.
Governor Shri Acharya Devvratji called upon the senior officers of the district system to actively participate in the campaign for natural farming, Chief Minister Shri Bhupendra Patel emphasized on the shared efforts of all to increase the scope of natural farming with the trust of collective efforts inclusive growth. He said that it is certain that the people of the state will benefit greatly by adopting natural farming methods.
Agriculture Minister Shri Raghavjibhai Patel while addressing all the Collectors-District Development Officers said that, State Government’s agriculture department is working diligently to ensure that more and more farmers in the state practice organic farming. 900 per month for the maintenance of native cow to encourage farmers for natural farming based on cow. Natural farming is our future. He appealed to make Gujarat natural farming and make it number one in natural farming.
The Chief Secretary of the state Mr. Rajkumar said that the farmers start the farming activities from Akhattrij. This time let us start to increase the prevalence of natural farming. Taking inspiration from Dang district, let’s work at a fast pace so that other districts also do complete natural farming. As 70% of villages in Gujarat are connected with optical fiber network, he suggested using optical fiber network to train farmers.
Additional Chief Secretary of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department Shri A. K. Rakesh said, at present 432000 farmers are doing organic farming in Gujarat. The state government has so far imparted training of natural farming to 1236000 farmers. The state government is giving 900 per month to 186,000 farmers for maintaining cows to carry out natural farming based on cows. Apart from Dang, Devbhumi Dwarka, Narmada, Gir Somnath and Anand districts have relatively more farmers practicing organic farming. He requested the Collector-District Development Officers to speed up this work.
Minister of State for Agriculture Shri Bachubhai Khabad, Chief Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Shri K Kailashnathan, Officer on Special Duty of ATMA(Agriculture Technology Management Agency) Mr. Dineshbhai Patel and Director Mr. Prakashbhai Rabari also joined the video Conference.
Source: Information Department, Gujarat