Key highlights
- Agriculture and its allied activities are integral to the lives and livelihoods of most of the people in the State. Besides the fact that the sector helps in ensuring food security, it also provides livelihoods to more than half of the state’s workforce i.e. 58.71 per cent. Agriculture and its allied industries account for around 13.70 per cent of the total Gross State Value Added (GSVA).
- The crop sub-sector constitutes major sub-sector within agriculture in Himachal Pradesh accounting for 62 per cent of agriculture and allied sector GSVA and 8.50 per cent of total GSVA in FY 2023-24.
- During FY 2023-24, the contribution of livestock, fishery, and forestry in agriculture and allied sector GSVA stood at 9.6 per cent, 1.1 per cent and 27.3 per cent respectively.
- A subsidy of ₹1,000 per MT for complex fertilisers has been allowed to encourage the balanced use of chemical fertilisers.
- The farmers under “Mukhyamantri Kisaan Evam Khetihar Mazdoor Jeevan Suraksha” are given compensation in the event of a partial amputation, permanent handicap, or death in the amount of ₹10,000 to ₹40,000, ₹1.00 lakh or ₹3.00 lakh, respectively. A Budget provision of ₹40.00 lakh has been kept for FY 2023-24.
- Under the scheme “Prakritik Kheti Khushal Kisan Yojana” Till date 1,78,643 farmers in the state have opted for natural farming, spanning an area of 24,210 hectares. An extra 50,000 bigha of land will be covered in FY 2023-24. For FY 2023-24, a budget provision of ₹13.00 crore has been made.
- Under the Flow Irrigation Scheme Government has decided to grant a 50 per cent subsidy for the construction of bore wells and shallow wells by individuals for irrigation purposes. The overall fruit output in FY 2022-23 was 8.15 lakh tonnes, while the total fruit production in FY 2023-24 (up to 31st December 2023) was 5.84 lakh tonnes. It was planned to put 1,224 hectares of new space under fruit plants.
- Under the scheme Anti Hail Nets for the installation of Anti Hail Nets till 31st December, 2023 ₹7.00 crore of those funds have been spent, under this programme 566 farmers in the state have profited.
- The newly established processing unit at Parala, under the World Bank-funded Himachal Pradesh Horticulture Development Project, has a production capacity of 18,000 MT of apple juice concentrate, 50,000 litres of vinegar, and 100,000 litres of wine per year."
- Mukhya Mantri Kiwi Protsahan Yojana Under this scheme, ₹1.00 crore have been allocated to field functionaries during the FY 2023-24, out of which ₹20.00 lakh has been utilized till date, covering 2-hectare area by benefitting 12 farmers, upto 31st December, 2023. Economic Survey 2023-24 81