The Centre is moving towards resolving the logistics problems faced in the North East in a bid to tap the agri-export potential, said the agriculture minister, Narendra Singh Tomar, on Thursday.
Besides this, Tomar assured that the centre is doing everything in its capacity to double the farmers income in the region.
The agriculture minister was addressing a virtual gathering with 8 Northeaster states. The union minister for DoNER, G Kishan Reddy and minister of state for DoNER, BL Verma attended the meeting along with many other officials.
“Some horticulture and medicinal crops are only produced in North Eastern states. There is a very big export opportunity for such crops. Agriculture and commerce ministries are working together to tap such opportunities and to solve the logistic problems faced by the NE states,” Tomar said in the meeting.
He said, PM Narendra Modi has put special emphasis on the development of the NER. “Our door is always open. I request all state governments to come up with a proposal if you find any difficulty in any schemes related to the agriculture sector,” Tomar added.
Shifting the spotlight to the opportunities that lie in the oil palm sector, Tomar said NER has a major role to play to make India self-reliant in edible oil.
As per Agri-research body ICAR, nine lakh hectares of land in the North Eastern region is suitable for oil palm production.
Tomar added that the farmers indulged with Oil palm production will yield great benefit as employment will be generated and import of oil palm can be reduced.
DoNER minister G Kishan Reddy suggested to form a task force w with representatives from the agriculture ministry, DoNER and state governments to ensure that the central schemes can be customized to address the unique nature and the nuances encountered in the region.
Stating that there is a huge scope for employment generation in agriculture and tourism industries, Reddy said there is a tremendous potential for the development of horticulture.
At the meeting, Agriculture ministers of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura discussed the issues and challenges they were facing in detail.
