Assam Agriculture Minister Atul Bora exhorts departmental officials to aid farmers

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Assam's Agriculture Minister Atul Bora on Wednesday said that departmental officials must extend support to the farmers as the department exists for cultivators alone.

Addressing the gathering at the foundation stone laying ceremony of an Organic Retail Outlet under the MOVCD-NER scheme at the Directorate of Agriculture campus at Khanapara here, the Agriculture Minister urged the departmental officials to lend support to the farmers for capacity building in organic and natural farming to increase export potential. He cited the example of river-island Majuli, where the Agriculture Department, in collaboration with the district administration, has taken various initiatives under APART and the Horticulture Department to turn it into an organic district.

Bora also said that the State Government and the Centre have been laying stress upon agriculture and ancillary sectors to boost the economy of the State and place Assam among the top five developed States of the country. He added that in his recent Independence Day speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also stressed on organic and natural farming and called it a basis for economic success. Bora said that the educated young generation of the State at present are interested to venture into the agriculture sector and are coming forward to explore various potentialities, especially in the horticulture sector.

The Organic Retail Outlet is under the Mission Organic Value Chain Development - North Eastern Region (MOVCD-NER) and the objective of the organic retail outlet is to link the organic farmers directly to the consumers without any middlemen so that consumers are able to conveniently purchase fresh and certified organic products.

Director of the Agriculture Department, Anant Lal Gyani, CEO of Assam State Agriculture and Marketing Board (ASAMB) Bidyut Bikash Bhagawati, Director of Horticulture Triranga Bharatiya Borah and other officials of the Agriculture Department and members of FPCs were also present during the programme.

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