Patton highlights economic roadmap
Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) G Kishan Reddy along with Union Agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar Tuesday held a virtual meeting with chief ministers of the North Eastern states and senior officials with focus on growth of agriculture in the region with special emphasis on the sectors like horticulture, oil palm, organic farming and bamboo development
The meeting also discussed on the recently announced National Mission on Edible Oil-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP), formulated to boost palm oil production & reduce dependence on edible oil imports.
Taking to twitter, Reddy said both he and Tomar held a meeting with the chief ministers and chief secretaries of North Eastern states along with other senior officials of both ministries to discuss on measures to be taken for the development of Agro-Horticulture sector in the region.
Reddy said that the aim of the meeting was to review the specific schemes under the Agriculture and Farmer’s welfare ministry on the recently introduced NMEO-OP, bamboo development plan for the region, holistic horticulture development plan and development of organic farming plans. The meeting also focused on reviewing allocations by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer’s welfare under the 10% Gross Budgetary support.
Addressing the meeting, Union Agriculture minister Tomar said that the North Eastern region was crucial for India’s growth.
On palm oil cultivation (NMEO-OP), Tomar acknowledged the fact that there were challenges but reminded that (NMEO-OP) was a game changer.” I request the states to highlight the bottlenecks in implementing the central government schemes and ways for effective implementation”, he added.
Also speaking at the meeting, Nagaland deputy chief minister Y. Patton, who is currently in Delhi, highlighted that as part of the Action Plan for development of Oil Palm in Nagaland under National Mission on Edible Oil- Oil Palm (NMEO- OP), the state government had taken up plantation projects mostly in foothill areas presently covering 4600 hectares in six districts.
While thanking the ministers for holding a virtual conference to highlight the issues of the North Eastern region , Patton said that besides road, railways, air connectivity and infrastructure development economic integration through tax reforms, digital and IT programs, the Act East policy and Agri and allied sector in the region was going through a massive makeover although the potentially was yet to be fully explored and realized. He further said that in view of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns, the focus was now on self reliance, re-skilling and employment avenues and generation.
In this regard, Patton informed that the state government had submitted an economic road map of 23 projects amounting to Rs. 83 crore out of which 12 projects with an amount of Rs. 31 crore was approved by NEC.
Similarly, a project proposal to Agriculture Ministry for Naga Model Integrated settled Farming for Rs. 68 crore was awaiting approval. Another important proposal for external funding under the nomenclature of ELEMENT; Enhancing Landscape and Ecosystem Management Project for a total project cost of Rs. 646 crore was approved by DEA. The project has been prepared in consultation with all stakeholders including renowned NGOs like TATA Trust. In this regard, the minister concern was requested to help the state get the project sanctioned at an early date.
Other issues raised by Patton incuded– optimum utilization of 10% Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) resources of the department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Ministry.
Patton also highlighted other areas like state specific holistic bamboo development plan, state specific holistic horticulture development plan, development of organic cultivation, setting up of infrastructure, value added etc. The chief ministers of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Mizoram were also present at the meeting.