Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Saturday, 6 June 2026, addressed farmers gathered at the Khet Bachao Abhiyan (Save the Farmland Campaign) programme in Almora, expressing deep gratitude for the warm reception extended by the farming community of the hill district.

Posting on X, CM Dhami wrote: 'Almora mein Khet Bachao Abhiyan karyakram mein upasthit annadata bhai-bahnon ko sambodhit kiya' — 'I addressed the farmer brothers and sisters present at the Khet Bachao Abhiyan programme in Almora.' He added that he was 'overwhelmed by the affectionate welcome extended by the godlike public.'

Context

Almora is a district in Uttarakhand's Kumaon hills, historically known for its extensive terraced farming. The region has long grappled with agricultural land abandonment driven by out-migration, human-wildlife conflict, and shifting land-use patterns. The Khet Bachao Abhiyan is framed as a campaign to arrest this decline and encourage farmers to continue cultivating their land.

CM Dhami's visit brought him face-to-face with annadata — a term of reverence meaning 'provider of food', commonly used for farmers — underscoring the political and social weight the state government attaches to hill agriculture.

Policy Backdrop

Since Dhami assumed office as Chief Minister in 2021, the Uttarakhand government has expanded schemes aimed at supporting hill agriculture and reversing farmland abandonment. The BJP-led administration has consistently framed such initiatives as part of a broader rural retention and self-reliance agenda for the mountain state.

Uttarakhand's hill districts face a structural challenge: as younger generations migrate to plains cities for employment, cultivated terraces are left fallow, accelerating land degradation and reducing local food security. Campaigns such as the Khet Bachao Abhiyan sit within this long-standing policy effort to make hill farming economically viable.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary stakeholders are Almora's farming households, many of whom depend on terraced agriculture for both subsistence and income. Rural communities across Kumaon and Garhwal divisions watch such campaigns closely, as they often signal forthcoming state support — whether in the form of subsidies, infrastructure investment, or crop-insurance coverage.

The Chief Minister's personal presence at a district-level agricultural event signals that the state government considers land abandonment a priority concern rather than a routine administrative matter. Events of this kind also serve as platforms for direct feedback from farming communities to the administration.

What's Next

Observers will watch whether the Khet Bachao Abhiyan is expanded to other Kumaon and Garhwal districts, and whether the Uttarakhand government follows up with budgetary allocations or legislative measures in the state assembly to back the campaign's goals. Any concrete policy announcement — such as enhanced minimum support prices for hill crops, anti-wildlife-depredation measures, or land-use incentives — would mark a significant escalation of the initiative beyond outreach events.

For now, CM Dhami's Almora visit reinforces the state government's public commitment to Uttarakhand's farming communities ahead of what could be a broader policy rollout across the hill districts.