The Himachal Pradesh government will consider giving tax concessions to milk producers and launch innovative schemes to increase the farmers' income in the upcoming budget, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said on Sunday. The budget session of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly will be held from February 14 to 29.
The state budget will be presented on February 17. Interacting with the milk producers of the state here, he said the government was encouraging agriculture as an industry to make the farmers self-reliant.
"As agriculture and milk production plays a pivotal role in promoting the rural economy, the state government is coming up with innovative schemes to increase the income of farmers in the upcoming budget, results of which would be visible in next two years", he said in a statement issued here. Fundamental changes were being made in the policies and rules to ensure that money goes directly to the farmers, he noted.
The government will also consider giving tax concessions to the milk producers, the chief minister assured. "We intend to bring revolutionary change in the agriculture sector with a special focus on promoting animal husbandry," he said.
The chief minister said there is a direct relationship between agriculture and milk production and therefore, it becomes necessary to go for natural and organic farming in a big way, thereby linking traditional farming techniques with modern technologies. "We intend to bring a revolutionary change in the agriculture sector with a special focus on promoting animal husbandry," he said, adding that an increase of six rupees in the milk purchase price is an indication of our future course of action to strengthen the dairy sector and assuring fixed income to the farmers.
In December last year, the chief minister announced an increase of ₹6 in the milk procurement price from ₹31 to ₹37 per litre from January 2024. He had promised to buy milk for ₹80-100 per litre from farmers during the eve of the last assembly polls in 2022.
Sukhu also said that fundamental changes were being made in the policies and rules to ensure that money goes directly to the farmers. He said that the milk quality in the Himalayan region was far better, and efforts were afoot for its marketing, which would add to the farmers' income and make agriculture an employment-oriented industry, besides taking measures to prevent them from exploitation while selling their produce in the open market.
The chief minister also held extensive discussions with the farmers in an open dialogue session and assured to incorporate the suggestions received from the farmers and other stakeholders in its policy document.
