Deputy Chief Minister of Nagaland, Y Patton attended and addressed a virtual conference with Union Minister for DoNER G Kishan Reddy, Union Minister of State (MoS) in charge of DoNER BL Verma, Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmer’s Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar, as well as chief ministers and chief secretaries of the northeastern states on August 31.
Dimapur, August 31 (MExN): Deputy Chief Minister of Nagaland Y Patton on Tuesday sought help from the Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Ministry in getting funds sanctioned for various proposals put up with the Northeast Council (NEC) and the Department of Economic Affairs.
Patton was addressing a virtual conference with Union Minister for DoNER G Kishan Reddy, Union Minister of State (MoS) in charge of DoNER BL Verma, Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmer’s Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar, as well as chief ministers and chief secretaries of the northeastern states.
During the meeting which was held to identify the state-specific needs and identify issues with the central schemes in the region, Patton stated that through various infrastructural development programmes, economic integration through tax reforms, digital and IT programmes, and the Act East Policy, the agriculture and allied sector in the NER is going through a great makeover. However, its potential is yet to be fully explored and realized, he noted.
Economic road map
Patton said that in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns, the Nagaland Government’s focus was on self-reliance, re-skilling and employment generation, for which the government had submitted an economic road map of 23 projects amounting to Rs 83 crore. Out of this, 12 projects with an amount of Rs 31 crore have been approved by NEC and Rs 68 crore project proposal to the Agriculture Ministry for Naga Model Integrated Settled Farming is awaiting approval.
ELEMENT Project
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 has been approved by Department of Economic Affairs. The project has been prepared in consultation with all stakeholders including renowned NGOs like TATA Trust, he said while requesting the DoNER minister to help the state get the project sanctioned at an early date.
Among others, the Deputy CM also apprised the house that so far, Nagaland does not have any special projects funded under optimum utilization of 10% Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) resources of the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India. However, potential exists to fund initiatives under various missions of the state government like Bamboo mission, Honey mission and Bio Resources mission, he added.
Action plan for development of Oil Palm
He also gave an update on the action plan for development of Oil Palm in Nagaland under National Mission on Edible Oil - Oil Palm (NMEO- OP) and informed that a new target to cover 15,000 hectares of plantation area has been renegotiated. Along with this, Patton informed that the Nagaland Bamboo Development Agency has come up with a Five-Year Plan 2020 – 2025, which contains policies, guidelines and activities during different phases to increase productivity of raw materials as well as its end products.
Horticulture development
In terms of horticulture development, the Deputy CM stated that the state government is focused on a state specific holistic horticulture development plan with emphasis on area expansion and export of horticulture crops like pineapple, kiwi, Naga mircha, Bamboo shoot, Naga tree tomato, cardamom, kholar, etc. He also stated that various aspects with regard to development of supply chain and market linkage, low cost preservation and retail markets, promotion of common facilitation Centre by FPOs/ FPCs etc. are also being emphasised on.
Further, Patton stated that Nagaland is ‘organic by default’ and so far, under MOVCD- NER, it has covered 13,000 ha Organic Certified areas benefiting 13,647 farmers in 24 villages. Another 1,000 ha will be covered in phase 2, he added.
The state has welcomed the initiatives of the Union government relating to the introduction of Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF), however, it has not taken off in the state on expected lines as the Banks are reluctant to finance farmers due to non availability of collateral securities, Patton underscored. Further, Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees (APMCs) founded in 2005 have not been able to achieve their objectives and Nagaland now has 19 APMCs in need of repair and renovation for which one time grant may be required, Patton stated.
Assistance to affected farmers
On the drought situation in the state, Patton stated that agriculture activities have been adversely affected leading to poor germination and wilting of standing crops. Stating that rice production in the state which was 5.51 MT for 2020- 2021, is expected to come down by 70% to 1.66 MT, he said that the Agri and allied departments have been directed to provide early Rabi seeds to affected farmers to compensate for the loss.
In this regard, the DoNER Ministry’s help would be required and Chief Minister of Nagaland has also written request letter to the Government of India for assistance to the affected farmers, Patton stated.
