Tenders floated to buy ‘organic’ cow dung for Rs 3 per kg, says minister
Tenders have been floated for buying ‘organic’ cow dung for Rs 3 per kg, and the successful bidders will also provide bags, transportation and stocking facilities, said Agriculture Minister Chander Kumar said on Tuesday.
He said that with thrust on organic farming, hi-tech techniques would be used in agriculture to increase farmers’ income. He added that the monthly income of a farming family should be between Rs 20,000 and Rs 25,000 to sustain agriculture.
He said that the Congress had promised to buy cow dung for Rs 2 per kg before the last Assembly elections, “but we do not wish to buy raw cow dung and will purchase organic cow dung for Rs 3 per kg.”
The minister said, “Tenders have been floated for buying organic cow dung for Rs 3 per kg and the company entrusted with the task will provide bags, fill and seal them, besides providing transportation and stocking facilities and will be paid Rs 4 to Rs 5 per kg.”
He said the cow dung would be stocked in HIMFED godowns. He added the production of organic crops in defunct farms would start with assured irrigation through contract farming on a no-profit-no-loss basis to motivate other farmers towards organic farming practices.
“Newly recruited staff in the Agriculture Department will be trained in land use planning, soil fertility, three-dimensional mapping and crop pattern so that remote sensing techniques can be used for tracing clusters to grow cash crops to increase farmers’ income,” he added.
