An important virtual meeting to review the progress of various schemes of the Government of India in the Agriculture sector for the states of North eastern Region was held in Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi on Thursday.
Several Union Ministers including Narendra Singh Tomar, B L Verma and G. Kishan Reddy along with the agriculture ministers of respective states took part in the meeting. Several officials of Trifed and Nafed were also present on the occasion.
Addressing the North Eastern States, Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar assured that Central the Government of India will do everything in its capacity to ensure that the income of the farmers of the NER region is doubled.
Speaking on the opportunities in the oil palm sector Tomar said that ICAR suggested that 9 lakh hectare land in the North East is suitable for oil palm production. Thus, North East has a major role to play to make India self-reliant in edible oil, he added.
The Minister said there are some horticulture and medicinal crops only produced in North-Eastern State. There is a very big export opportunity for such crops. He said that Agriculture and Commerce Ministry are working together to tap such opportunities and to solve the logistic problems faced by the North Eastern States.
G. Kishan Reddy, Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), Tourism, and Culture while addressing the states suggested that a task force be formed with representatives from Agriculture Ministry, DoNER and State governments to ensure that the schemes of Agriculture Ministry are saturated for the North eastern Region and the schemes can be customized to address the unique nature and the nuances encountered in the Northeast Region.
Be it Pineapple, Oranges, Kiwi, or spices such as turmeric, ginger, cardamom etc, the North Eastern States are gaining popularity in the market which needs to be taken to a global level now. He said that there is a need to focus on strengthening the agricultural and horticultural produce value chains. He said that post-harvest management also needs to be improved by involving FPOs, SHGs and the private sector.
During the meeting, brief presentations on the major initiatives being taken by the Ministries in the Agricultural Sector for the NER States were made by the Agriculture Ministry and Secretaries of all the 8 States of NER.
Key schemes include Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Regions (MOVCDNER), National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm (NMEO-OP), Bamboo in North East Region and the mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH).
Agriculture Ministers of the North eastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura discussed the issues and challenges they were facing in detail.
Officials from organizations such as North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Ltd. (NEDFI), Tribal Co-Operative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited (TRIFED) and the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd.(NAFED) also made presentations on the work their respective organizations are undertaking in the Northeast region.
