ROHTAK: The Haryana government is emphasising on promoting peri-urban agriculture in the state as part of its efforts to move growers away from traditional farming of wheat and paddy, a senior official of the Haryana agriculture department said here."We are focusing on promoting peri-urban farming in the state whereby fresh fruits, vegetables, milk, flowers, poultry, foodgrain, pulses and other items will be supplied to the target market of Delhi," Haryana Agriculture Department, Additional Director Suresh Gehlawat said here on Saturday.He was speaking on the sidelines of third three-day Agri Leadership Summit -2018 which commenced here on March 24.The department has identified Delhi as target market for supplying fresh items by cultivating and processing in adjoining Delhi and periphery areas in Haryana."Delhi is surrounded by Gurugram, Panipat, Sonipat, Faridabad districts which fall in the NCR region and if peri-urban farming is promoted here then it will benefit almost one lakh farmers of Haryana as they will have large market for the supply of fresh vegetables, fruits, poultry items, organic products etc," he asserted.As a pilot project, Haryana government has proposed to promote peri-urban farming in Faridabad."We have sought Rs four crore of funds under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana for launching peri-urban agriculture at Faridabad on pilot basis," he further said."The items so grown and processed will be sold under Haryana Fresh brand," Haryana Agriculture department's Additional Director said.To promote peri-urban farming, the government will also rope in Farmers Producers' Organisation (FPO) , he further said.Official said the peri-urban farming will not only encourage growers to come out of the wheat-paddy cycle but will also lead to crop diversification.

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