Chief Minister Raman Singh on Friday said that a cold storage chain would be created in Chhattisgarh after identifying all the vegetable growing pockets of the State. He was speaking at the State loan Symposium of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) here.
Singh called upon the district collectors to prepare a blue print for the far-flung regions of State in the next 24 months so that the farmers who grow vegetables need not protest on the streets for better facilities and remuneration. He laid stress on better marketing of the farmers products so that they could earn substantial profits.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister unveiled ‘State Focus Paper’ of the NABARD for the year 2017-2018.
The Chief Minister said that State had been making several efforts to increase the income of farmers. Solar pumps are being installed in remote areas where authorities are unable to provide electricity due to difficult terrain and other geographical reasons, he said
Fifty-one thousand solar irrigation pumps will be distributed to the farmers under the Solar Sujla Yojana, Singh added.
The ‘backyard’ farm project of the bank is very successful and it should be extended to all parts of the State, he said.
Singh called upon the bank officials to allot loans to small and medium farmers so that they can increase their income.
Agriculture Department additional chief secretary Ajay Singh said that NABARD had played a prominent role along with the State Government in the field of agriculture and infrastructure development in the hinterland. About 75 per cent of the citizens are dependent on agriculture in the State.
Chief General Manager of NABARD Dr R.M. Kumar said that loans should be granted to various sectors for the rapid development of State.
He stressed upon the need for operating ‘Jalgrahan Ksetra Vikas Programme’ to increase the production of farm products. Reserve Bank of India regional director Raipur Saraswati Shyam Prasad also spoke. State Apex Bank chairperson Ashok Bajaj, finance department secretary Amitabh Jain, senior officers of several banks, farm scientists, self-help groups were also present.
It may be recalled that State Agriculture Minister Brijmohan Agrawal in January last year had stated that a master plan had been prepared to provide subsidy for opening of cold storages by farmers. The Minister said that he considers himself lucky that he got an opportunity to serve the farmers and always makes efforts to improve their living conditions. He was addressing the members of Progressive Farmers’ Union at village Khapri in Durg district.
The Minister called upon the farmers to grow crops like fruits and vegetables apart from paddy and augment their family income.
In a power point presentation on Prospects of Cold Chain Infrastructure in Eastern Region on April 6, 2015, the Ministry has spelled out its plans of taking up a total of 500 Integrated cold chain projects as per the modified pattern of the Central assistance during the next five years across the country to create capacity of 2.5 million tonnes.
Incidentally, on August 31, 2016, Chief Minister had directed officials to draw an action plan for operating a State-level ‘Food Processing Mission’ in the State.
Chairing a meeting of the State Industry Department at the office at his residence in Raipur, the Chief Minister said that as per the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission, the State would run the ‘Food Processing Mission’ while using its own resources. He said that the State government has made a provision of `12 crore for launching the State-level ‘Food Processing Mission’. Singh said that the launching of Mission would help farmers get better prices for their farm produce and also open new job avenues for youth in the Food Processing sector.
Officials attending the meeting said that Food Processing Sector in Chhattisgarh is being seen as a ‘focus sector’ to ensure industrial diversity.
A ‘cluster’ pattern had been adopted in developing horticulture with the implementation of new projects in Chhattisgarh, the Government had informed in June last year.
A master-plan for the development of horticulture had been prepared by the State Government on the basis of geographical distinction. There is four-times increase in acreage of horticulture and five times increase in the production of fruits, vegetables and flowers in the past thirteen years.
The horticulture crops include fruits, vegetables, flowers, spices, medicinal and scented plants. The acreage under horticulture is about seven lakh 92 thousand 943 hectares in 2015-2016. Earlier, in the year 2004-2005 the acreage under Horticulture crops had been about 2.55 lakh hectares of land.
Twenty -five villages are located in each development block and in each village a minimum of 20 acres is identified. Each cluster will have 200 acre land. Crops are developed in almost all the districts of the State.Adequate irrigation facilities had been developed for horticulture plants. About 5, 700 hand-pumps had been sunk for the purpose. Drip irrigation and sprinkler irrigation had been provided in all the districts. Eighty-two model nurseries had been developed for horticulture crops-vegetables, flowers- to preserve high-quality breed plants. Thirty nurseries had been upgraded.
The State Government had already drawn up a blue-print to double the income of horticulture farmers by the year 2022. Minor and medium sector packaging industry are being encouraged by the authorities.
The Chhattisgarh Government has prepared a five-year master plan to provide a fillip to the cultivation of horticulture based crops in the State. The master plan is for the period 2017-18 to 2021-22, officials informed.
Horticulture is a sunrise sector in the State. The Horticulture crops cover an acreage of 7.41 lakh hectares and production is about 85.95 lakh metric tonnes, officials informed. The acreage under horticulture crops had increased several times since 2004-05.
According to the master plan, the target is to increase acerage of horticulture crops by about 4.52 lakh hectares. The increase in acerage will cover fruits, vegetables, masala (spices) crops and flowers.
Under the Central Government's Micro-Irrigation Mission Project about 75,000 hectares land had been brought under micro-irrigation in Chhattisgarh. The proposal is to bring in additional 2.34 lakh additional land under the micro-irrigation during the next five years. An additional investment of `1,405 crore is likely to be incurred on the project. Farmers will be trained in the processing of horticulture crops, officials informed.
A Mother Tree Resource Center will be developed at Naya Raipur for the benefit of farmers. A State-level Training Center will be established to introduce farmers to high-grade plants. A total of five agriculture mandis in Chhattisgarh have been connected to Center’s ‘e-NAM’ platform so far during the first phase of the project, the Central Government has informed.