A section of the gathering during the coordination meeting of farmers through SMAM held at Directorate of Agriculture, Kohima on December 13.
Kohima, December 13 (MExN): The coordination meeting programme on monitoring and evaluation study and documentation on the progress of farmers through SMAM (Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization) was held at conferences hall Directorate of Agriculture, Kohima on December 13.
Addressing the programme, M Ben Yanthan Director of Agriculture said that production, irrespective of food grains projected till 2018-2019 was 7,390,30 MT (seven lakhs thirty nine thousands and thirty) only, which the department’s focus was that by 2025 in terms of food grains, it should sufficiently reach food grains production in the state.
In this regard, he reminded the staff to rededicate and improve their work ethics with accountability and transparency to achieve the targets, while also urging them to uphold their teamwork in order to bring out concrete reports in terms of facts and figures.
Burwati Longkumer, Deputy Director speaking on Sensitisation on Monitoring and Evaluation Study to be conducted soon, said that the evaluation is to be completed by March 20, 2020 in the state.
He said that Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM) was being implemented through the State Department of Agriculture of all states, Farm Machinery Training & Testing Institutes and the ICAR. The SMAM have a National Steering Committee (NSC) under Chairmanship of Secretary (A&C) at the National level which is a policy formulating body giving overall direction and guidance to the Mission, and also to monitor and review its progress and performance.
In terms of reference for impact and evaluation of SMAM,he said the North East regions are substantially lower compared to developed countries which was a necessity for promoting farm mechanization as a special mission and accordingly the SMAM has been conceived to implementation during Xll plan with the objective to increase reaching out of farm mechanization to small and marginal farmers and also to promote Customs Hiring centers to offset the adverse economics scale and also to create hubs for hi-tech and high value farm equipments.
During the meeting, demonstration, farm power availability calculations and CHC mobile apps were also presented. Welcome address was delivered by Additional Director C Peter Yanthan.
