Shimla, May 15 (IANS): Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Friday hailed the package of more than Rs 1.63 lakh crore announced for agriculture and allied sectors by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

He thanked the central government for making the provision of Rs one lakh crore for post-harvest management, food processing and better agricultural infrastructure for primary agricultural societies, etc.

He said this decision would benefit in value addition for the farmers of the country.

Thakur also welcomed the announcement of Rs 10,000 crore funds to encourage local micro industries in the food processing sector, which would benefit about 2 lakh units.

He said that this would encourage local entrepreneurs to produce health products, organic products, etc, on cluster basis.

This fund can also be availed for harness of minor forest produce. He said that this fund would also largely benefit the people of Himachal Pradesh.

He welcomed the announcement of provision of Rs 20,000 crore for fishery sector which would encourage marine and inland activities with Rs 11,000 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana and Rs 9,000 crore for necessary infrastructure for assistance of fishermen.

Thakur said the decision to introduce a central law aimed at providing various options to farmers to sell their produce at attractive prices would remove the bottlenecks in inter-state transportation of agricultural produce.

He said this would give farmers an opportunity to sell their produce in the market of their choice and it would increase their income by getting a fair price.