Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh today laid the foundation stone of the University of Horticultural Sciences here and said the varsity will help boost fruits and vegetable production and double income of farmers in the state.
"This (University) shall also demonstrate significant improvement in production and productivity of horticultural crops to double the income of the farmers, and help in achieving self-sufficiency," Singh said after the event.
The Minister said the Centre shall provide financial assistance of Rs 200 crore for setting up of this University and the first installment of Rs 50 crore would be released to the state this month.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and state agriculture minister among others were present.
Singh said that a full-fledged horticultural university will cater the needs to support the gap between teaching, research and extension activities in the state and will establish the convergence and synergy to disseminate latest technology and horticulture education to young generation.
The varsity would also act as a skill development centre to cater to the demand for trained manpower in the production, post harvest and processing industries, he said in a statement issued by the Union Agriculture Ministry.
Singh further said that Haryana state holds tremendous potential for horticulture development as it has fertile land, favourable climate and water resources.
The state is focusing on horticultural crops and has planned to increase the total area to 9 lakh hectare with production to 27 million tonnes in the next decade.
Currently, the horticulture crops are grown in 4.5 lakh hectare, while production is around 2.51 million tonnes.
While describing farmers of Haryana as hardworking,
the Union Minister said as the state surrounds Delhi from three sides, the farmers of the State have huge potential of selling their produce in Delhi.
"But the previous Government in the State always neglected the interest of farmers and fulfilled their vested interests," he alleged.
Singh said now with the concerted efforts made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister the farmers of the state would be able to meet the requirement of fruit, vegetable and flowers of Delhi.
Singh said that the Anaj mandi of Karnal would be linked with Rashtriya Krisha Bazar. He said as many as 585 Mandis of the country would be linked with this Bazar by 2018.
Earlier, speaking on this occasion, Khattar described today as a historical day for the people of village Anjanthali.
He said though this University could be set up at any place in the state yet as the northern Haryana has taken a lead in the diversification of crop by adopting horticulture farming over conservative farming, village Anjanthali has been chosen for this University.
The Chief Minister said the setting up of Horticulture University would significantly increase the production of fruits, flower, medicinal plants and other agro based products.
Khattar said the aim of the state government is to ensure that farmers meet the requirement of vegetable, fruit and flowers of the areas surrounding the National Capital Region (NCR) mainly Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Ghaziabad having a population of four crore.
On this occasion, the Chief Minister announced a slew of incentives for the people of Nilokheri Assembly Constituency which included construction of Primary Health Centre in village Gonder, Rs 21 lakh for opening of Community Radio Station and Swami Vivekanand Pustkalya in village Gonder.
He also announced construction of a Pond in Nissing under five-pond system, construction of sports stadium in Nissing over six acre at a cost of Rs 1.27 crore, Rs five crore for the development of village Anjanthali and Rs two crore for village Shamgarh, Rs 21 lakh each for three gaushalas at village Gonder, Nissing and Taraori from his discretionary fund and Rs 11.38 crore for the construction of new roads and widening of existing roads.
