Chandigarh: New challenges faced by agriculture and rural economy can be addressed through innovation, technology and strong institutional support, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini said on Thursday, adding that his state has played a significant role in the country’s food security.
With changing times, agriculture and the rural economy are facing several new challenges, including declining groundwater levels, deterioration of soil health, shrinking landholdings, climate change and rising cost of production, Saini said.
He emphasised that these challenges cannot be addressed through conventional methods alone, but require innovation, technology and strong institutional financial support.
Saini was addressing the state-level credit seminar organised by NABARD here.
On the occasion, the chief minister also released the NABARD State Focus Paper for the year 2026-27, in which Haryana’s priority sector credit potential has been assessed at over Rs 3.67 lakh crore, reflecting an increase of about 17 per cent compared to the previous year.
Saini said that rural prosperity is not possible without making agriculture profitable.
Therefore, there is a need to implement the principles of “more production with less land” and put “per drop more crop’ in practice, he said.
He further said that just like credit facilities, infrastructure is equally crucial for rural development. Irrigation, storage, warehousing, rural roads, electricity and digital connectivity form the foundation of development.
He said that special focus will be given to Smart Agriculture Zones in the upcoming state budget, and separate clusters are being developed for this purpose.
Clusters for kinnow, guava, strawberry, litchi and other horticulture crops are being created to encourage farmers to shift from traditional farming to modern agricultural practices.
He also urged farmers to adopt sugarcane cultivation as part of crop diversification.
The state government is making concerted efforts to strengthen the linkage from “soil to machine and farm to market” so that farmers can get better market access for their produce as well as fair and remunerative prices, he said.