Chandigarh, June 6 -- In a major push to promote natural farming on a large scale in Haryana and raise awareness among farmers, chief minister Nayab Singh Saini on Thursday announced to set up natural and organic food-grain procurement mandis in Gurugram and Hisar. While mandi in Gurugram will cater to produce such as wheat, paddy and pulses, Hisar mandi will deal with fruits and vegetables grown through natural and organic methods. Ever since the natural farming scheme was launched in Haryana in 2022 as many as 1.84 lakh farmers have registered 2.73 lakh acre land on the portal. Of these, 10,550 farmers have been verified for practicing natural farming on 17,087 acres. Haryana has set a target of bringing one lakh acre land under natural farming in 2025-26 financial year. Addressing the natural farming conference organised on the occasion of world environment day at Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, Saini said that a committee will be formed under the Haryana Kisan Kalyan Pradhikaran to determine fair pricing for produce grown using natural and organic farming practices. He further announced financial support of Rs.20,000 per farmer for branding and packaging of natural farming products. Dedicated laboratories will also be established to test produce from natural and organic farming. These labs will offer testing services free of cost to farmers, he said. Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini on Thursday urged the people to plant a tree as a step towards environmental conservation and green future on the occasion of World Environment Day. While addressing the gathering in Charkhi Dadri, the chief minister said, "It is our collective responsibility to keep the environment clean. The state government is focusing on creating a plastic-free natural environment and is implementing various measures to eliminate plastic pollution. The state government had already imposed a ban on single-use plastic. Plastic bags below 120 microns have also been prohibited as part of the broader strategy to reduce plastic waste."...