SHIMLA - The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) will promoting dairy farming in Himachal Pradesh to improve farmers’ economic conditions.

“A Rs.300-crore Doodh Ganga project will be launched in Solan district on Friday. Initially, it will cater to three districts - Shimla, Mandi and Solan,” Nabard chief general manager S.T. Raghuraman said here Wednesday.

“The project will empower women and benefit 50,000 rural households through income and employment-generation activities. It will also help the state achieve self-sufficiency in milk production,” Raghuraman told IANS.

Nabard will assist the state government in strengthening infrastructure for dairy production, processing and distribution.

Raghuraman said under the project, banks would provide soft loans to members of self-help groups and individuals.

“The main emphasis of the project will be on strengthening basic infrastructure like purchase of milking machines, cooling units and setting up dairy product transportation facilities,” Raghuraman said.

Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, who will launch the project at Paplota village in Solan district, told IANS: “This will definitely usher in a White Revolution in the state and transform the rural economy.”

Nabard is already promoting farming inside polyhouses — greenhouses constructed with bamboo strips or iron pipes and covered with ultraviolet plastic sheets — to improve the earning potential of farmers in the state.

For this, it has sanctioned a loan of Rs.155 crore to the hill state to set up 30,000 polyhouses to promote off-season farming, particularly in the lower and mid-hills.

The economy of the hill state is highly dependent on agriculture, apart from hydroelectric power and tourism.