$163m loan agreement signed for HPSHIVA project

Shimla: To help the farmers of the state under the HPSHIVA project, the state and the Union governments on Thurday signed a loan agreement with Asian Development Bank. The project is aimed at increasing the income of farm households in seven districts — Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Kangra, Mandi, Solan, Sirmaur and Una, and improving the livelihood of at least 15,000 farm households and around 90,000 beneficiaries in these households. The total outlay of this project will be USD 163 million or Rs 1,292 crore.The project will expand climate resilient subtropical horticulture plantation area along with assured irrigation and market access through value chain development. The duration of the project is five years. Under the project, plantation will be done in 400 clusters covering an area of 6,000 hectare in 28 development blocks of project districts. The irrigation facility shall be ensured through 162 irrigation schemes. The farmers in these clusters will be organised in the form of cooperative societies.Chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and horticulture minister Jagat Singh Negi congratulated the farmers on this occasion and said the state government was making concerted efforts for the approval of HPSHIVA project. The project is based upon the ‘Beej se bazaar tak’ concept, linking all activities from pre-production to post harvest management, including value chain development and access to market. They said that with the implementation of this project, the farmers of the state would get self-employment opportunities. tnn