Karnal: Assuring farmers of fair prices for their produce and emphasising on diversification of crops, the Haryana government today launched 'Bhavantar Bharpayee Yojana' in which tomato, onion, potato, and cauliflower have been included. A separate fund would be constituted by the state government for this scheme, state chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar said after launching the scheme at village Ganger in Karnal district. On this occasion, the chief minister did registration of a tomato growing farmer under Bhavantar Bharpayee e-Portal and Crop Cluster Development Programme. 

The chief minister said that compensation at the rate of Rs 400 per quintal would be given for tomato and potato whereas Rs 500 per quintal would be given for onion and cauliflower. The state government would compensate the difference in price when prices in market will go below the mentioned prices, he said. He said that as compared to traditional crops, micro irrigation would be adopted for tomato, onion, potato and cauliflower crops to save water. 

There are many areas in the state where people are deprived of potable drinking water and tankers are used to supply drinking water, he said. He said that micro-irrigation works with about 30 percent water and save about 70 percent. He said that the state has a big market like Delhi where farmers could sell their produce. The state government has been establishing small mandis in each district so that farmers could sell their produce in these mandis, he said. Similarly, Asia's biggest mandi of fruits and vegetables is being established in Ganaur, he said. 

He said that the state government was considering providing facility of cold storage for farmer's produce. Speaking on the occasion, Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Minister O P Dhankar said with the launch of this scheme, now farmers in Haryana would not have to throw their produce on roads. Giving details about the scheme, Dhankar said that the farmers would have to got themselves registered on Bhavantar Bharpayee website or in the office of Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board that he has been sowing the crop which would be confirmed by an officer appointed for this purpose that the farmer has produced the crop. Thereafter, an SMS would be sent by the department on the farmer's mobile number, he said.