Arunachal: CM Pema Khandu launches credit-linked schemes to boost agriculture & horticulture sector

ITANAGAR: In an attempt to boost the agriculture & horticulture sector in Arunachal, Chief Minister Pema Khandu today launched two credit-linked schemes Atma Nirbhar Krishi & Atma Nirbhar Bagbani Yojana at Civil Secretariat. The launch is expected to double the income of the farmers.

CM Khandu said that state-level and district-level committees have been constituted for selection of beneficiaries for the schemes.

He further said the district-level committees headed by the respective deputy commissioners and district agriculture officers and district horticulture officers, would select the beneficiaries and submit the list to the state-level committees for approval.

Khandu appealed to the officials of both the departments to stick to the timeline for the schemes saying that agriculture and horticulture departments cannot be compared with other departments as both deal with schemes on a seasonal basis.

"Arunachal has 25 lakh hectares of cultivable area for agriculture and horticulture activities of which only 2.5 lakh hectares have been put to use. If the remaining area could be exploited, the sectors will improve drastically," Khandu said.

The chief minister said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a vision for the development of agri and horti sectors in the northeast for which the North Eastern Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation Limited (NERAMAC) is under the process of revival.

"The revival of the regional marketing board will tremendously help the farmers of the region," Khandu said.

He added that the Union Cabinet has approved palm oil mission with an outlay of Rs 11,040 crore.

"Slow coverage of oil palm cultivation in the state was due to lack of commitment from the promoters in setting up of processing factories that had led to loss of confidence among the farmers. An MoU with one of the promoters was cancelled and meetings called with the existing ones to fast track the mission," the chief minister said.

Appealing to the banking institutions to help the state farmers by providing loans in their ventures, Khandu said that banking institutions should go for improving the credit-deposit ratio which is possible only through providing loans.

Talking to InsideNE, Tage Taki Minister of agriculture & horticulture said that in order to become self reliant and stop important vegetables and food products from outside Arunachal is the main target.

This loan scheme is giving subsidy to the farmers which will help them to produce more and make Arunachal self reliant in both agriculture and horticulture products.

The two schemes will be implemented with government subsidy, bank credit and beneficiary contribution in the ratio of 45:45:10, for which an amount of Rs 60 crore each, has been earmarked for both the sectors.

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