THE HIMALAYAN BEACON
GANGTOK, NOVEMBER 30, 2013: Minister of Agriculture and Food Processing Industries, Government of India, Sharad Pawar inaugurated the Conference of Agriculture Ministers of North-Eastern States here at Chintan Bhawan today. In his inaugural address, Pawar said that the North East Region held tremendous potential in the agricultural front on account of its fertile lands, abundant water resources, dependable rainfall and vast bio diversity. However, in the context of the trend of single crop cultivation in the North East region, he suggested the need to adopt crop diversification to suit agro-climatic conditions of the region. He pointed out the huge potential of oil palm cultivation in the region. This, he said, could contribute to the country being self sufficient in oil palm production and subsequent savings on import. He shared that the agro climate of North East Region is best suited for oil palm cultivation and called on the North Eastern States to take up oil palm cultivation in the region, in the interests of the farmers.
The Minister informed that launching of Technology Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture in the NE States (TMNE) in 2001-02, subsequently renamed as Horticulture Mission for NE and Himalayan States (HMNEH) in 2010-11, paved the way for horticulture based diversification and economic development in the NER.
Pawar maintained that agro-climatic conditions of NER offer immense scope for cultivation of various horticultural crops, as an outcome of which many horticulture crops of NER have a distinct place on the horticulture map of India, such as orchids and large cardamoms of Sikkim, Kiwis of Arunachal, pineapples of Assam, chillies of Nagaland, Anthuriums of Mizoram, Khasi Mandarins of Meghalaya, ginger of Manipur and potatoes of Tripura. He added that the region is known to produce best quality oranges and passion fruit in the country, and Floriculture crops such as orchids, begonias, chrysanthemum, liliums and heliconia thrive in the region. Root and Tuber crops like tapioca, sweet potato, dioscorea, colocasia, ginger and turmeric grow abundantly here, shared Pawar. The Minister further informed about schemes introduced by the Government of India for North East Region such as Scheme on Vegetable Initiative for Urban Clusters (VIUC) under the aegis of RKVY, Credit Guarantee Fund and Equity Guarantee Fund for facilitating FPOs to play a leading role in agriculture development.
The Minister urged the concerned States to make an integrated effort for post harvest management, marketing and food procession, by using funds under various Central Schemes in an innovative manner by focusing on these activities. The National Mission for Food Processing should also be utilized for this purpose, stated the Minister.
The Minister also informed about the Government of India’s unique introduction of a Horticulture Train for movement of perishable fruits and vegetables from production centres to consumption centres in a scientific manner, so that the quality is not affected. He urged the States to derive optimum benefit from this facility. For smaller volumes, railways have introduced a scheme of concessional freight for agricultural commodities, he added. He also informed about the Ministry’s dedicated approach in establishing specialized institutions in the
th NE during the 12 Plan for development of human resources, in the form of educational research and training institutions.
In the end, the Minister stated that the North Eastern Region provided immense opportunities for development of agriculture and horticulture and urged all to use the favorable policy of the Government of India to exploit the full potential of the region.
Concluding his address the Hon’ble Union Minister sanctioned in principle the eight point proposal placed by the Chief Minister of Sikkim in his address.
It may be informed here that during the course of his visit, the Minister would be presiding over the Conference of th Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries Ministers of the North-Eastern States on 29 November, and would be th visiting the College of Agriculture Engineering at Marchak East Sikkim, and Temi Tea Estate South Sikkim on 30 November 2013.
Earlier, Chief Minister of Sikkim Pawan Chamling, in his keynote address, extended greetings and warm welcome to the Union Minister and thanked him for his visit and for his continuous support in overcoming some specific challenges faced in the agriculture and horticulture sector by the North Eastern Region and Sikkim.
The Chief Minister informed about the initiatives of the Government of Sikkim in the field of Agriculture to attain higher level of growth. He stated that the State provided an enabling environment for sustainable growth in these sectors, and thus a variety of programmes were launched in adequate measure to promote these sectors. The unstinted support of the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, he said, played critical role in the transformation of these sectors giving much needed boost. “It is with generous support from the Central Ministry that we have accomplished many success stories in the field of off-season vegetables, floriculture, protected cultivation, fruits and spices, cereals and pulses,” Chamling said. The Chief Minister also threw light on the organic policy adopted by the State by launching Sikkim Organic Mission to make Sikkim a fully Organic State by 2015. He informed that environmental security, product branding, health safety and enhancement in farm returns were some of the important objectives of this challenging decision, now converted into a flagship programme.
Further, the Chief Minister said that the State has been giving enough impetus to the cultivation of Cymbidium Orchid, and informed that the first mother plant of Cymbidium hybrid, which has become a multi-billion dollar industry today, was taken from Sikkim. For this, Chief Minister’s Special Orchid Development Programme in 18 constituencies was launched which had benefited the farmers and the educated youths, informed Mr Chamling. He further elaborated that the programme needed further expansion and consolidation with import of first release hybrid mother plants which in the coming years would establish Sikkim as a major grower in the national and international sphere. He informed that the State had formulated an ambitious plan for an Integrated Development of Orchid which, in the long run, could become a model for others.
The Chief Minister further informed that the State government had introduced the scheme of providing minimum support price in vegetables, transport subsidy for vegetables upto Siliguri and for flowers to any destination within the country, as part of the convergence initiatives. In order to add special thrust on the development of marginalized farmers of the State, he stated that the government identified dry, backward and remote areas and special programmes were devised to uplift the farmers in these villages by providing suitable incentives and technology support. The Chief Minister further stated that certain common areas of concern to the North Eastern States would need the intervention of the Union Minister especially in terms of providing special package to tackle food security issue and sustainability of mountain farming system. “Based on inherent strengths of each State, we need to form a large network of cold chain system, bring about farm mechanization, more liberal crop insurance policy, protected cultivation, water harvesting and micro irrigation etc”, stated Mr Chamling.
The Chief Minister laid down eight proposals before the Union Minister, for the development of agriculture, horticulture and floriculture crops, and the upliftment of the farming community in the State.
Establishment of Horticulture College that would provide large institutional support with promotion of research studies to augment and diversify the activities under this sector.
Sikkim Institute of Food Technology, for the creation of a facility for post-harvest technology and value addition. The facility may be called Sikkim Institute of Food Technology (SIFT) a Centre of Excellence with facilities including Physical Grading Centre, Food Processing Laboratory, Food Micro-biology Laboratory, Food Analysis Laboratory, Quality Control and Assurance Laboratory, Nano-technology Application Laboratory, Packaging Research Facility, Market Research Centre, Business and Farmers’ Assistance Centre etc. Besides developing wide range of premium quality processed food products, it will also be the Centre of frontier
research in this niche area being unique in the entire North East region and also generate employment for the highly qualified young professional of Sikkim.
The Institute could be an independent entity or a Centre of Excellence within the proposed College of Horticulture.
Cold Chain System: To aid the farmers to market their products better, the need to establish cold chain facilities right from the farm to the terminal market was felt. For this purpose, 22 number of multi-facility cold storage at primary collection centers and four district level processing units and adequate number of refrigeration plants have been proposed for which a sum of Rs.32.00 crores has been estimated.
Re-designation of ICAR to NRC Organic Farming: As Sikkim is the first State to go organic in totality, the Government has submitted proposal to the Central Ministry with request to re-designate the present ICAR Centre at Tadong as National Research Centre in Organic Farming. The Chief Minister also requested the Union Minister to spare the surplus land available with ICAR at Tadong, Gangtok for building of range of infrastructural facilities for the farmers.
Integrated Development of Orchid: A sum of Rs. 60.00 crores has been estimated spread over a period of four years to achieve the objective which is required to provide tissue culture planting material to farmers, construction of green houses, training and input support and host of other related facilities.
. Rejuvenation of Large Cardamom: A huge re-plantation and rejuvenation programme is required to retrieve the lost glory of Sikkim as the biggest producer of Large Cardamom which is mostly exported to other countries. It is estimated that we would require a sum of Rs.25.00 crores spread over a period of 5 years to take up massive re-plantation and rejuvenation work of Large Cardamom.
Special Package for Organic Farming: Since Sikkim will become the first fully organic State in the Country; the Government of India is requested to provide a special package of Rs. 100 crores to boost the ongoing programme.
. Mega Food Park: The Central Ministry has been pleased to sanction establishment of one Mega Food Park for the State of Sikkim. However, due to scarcity of land certain existing guidelines may be relaxed for State like Sikkim. The 50 acres of land required may be made 30 acres due to the land terrain which the State Government will arrange as per guidelines of the Ministry. The State Government has also represented to the Hon’ble Union Minister for construction of one Abattoir each in South and North Sikkim
In his concluding ntoe, the Chief Minister expressed the need to strike a fine balance between nature and application of science and technology into the farmland which could be accomplished by making rational use of available scientific tools and mechanism to undertake off-seasonal cultivation and make the agricultural activities round the year engagement. Adoption of right methods and strategy would have the potential to develop the North Eastern region into an Organic Zone, Floriculture zone, Horticulture Zone and Apiculture Zone etc.
During the programme the Hon’ble Union Minister also released the book “Organic Sikkim-Leading the Change” written by Dr. Tej Partap and Dr. C.S. Vaidya. The programme also saw presentation by Dr. S.K.Malhotra, Commissioner, Horticulture, Government of India, J.S.Sandhu, Commissioner, Agriculture, Government of India and Pravesh Sharma, Managing Director, SFAC.The Inaugural Session of the conference had the presence of Hon’ble Speaker Sikkim Legislative Assembly, Ministers of Agriculture from North-Eastern States; Cabinet Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries, Union Secretaries, Secretary North East Council, Principal Secretaries and Secretaries of the North Eastern States, distinguished officers from Government of India, officers from North-eastern States, and officers from concerned departments of the Government of Sikkim.
Earlier the programme began with the welcome address by the Chief Secretary, Government of Sikkim R.Ongmu and the programme concluded with the thanks note by Secretary, Agriculture, Shanta Pradhan.
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