Tripura gets tiol award for record food production

Agartala, April 19: The Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has selected Tripura for the Krishi Karman Award 2015-16 for commendable increase in food grain production in small category states. Tripura gets this tiol award for the second time.

The northeastern state first received the award in the 2009-10 fiscal. “We have received a communication from... the ministry that Tripura has been selected for the Krishi Karman Award for 2015-16...,” Tripura Agriculture Minister Aghore Debbarma told IANS over phone from Delhi.

An official of Tripura’s Agriculture Department, quoting the ministry letter, said that for total food grain production, Tamil du gets the award in large category (production more than 10 million tonnes), Himachal Pradesh in medium category (1 to 10 million tonnes) and Tripura in small category (less than 1 million tonnes). Each award-winning state would receive a trophy, a citation and cash award of Rs five crore at a function in New Delhi. According to the official document, Tripura produced 825,000 tonnes of food grain in 2016, and had been implementing a “perspective plan” to achieve self-sufficiency in food grain within the next few years.

“Tripura has also increased the food grain productivity from 973 kg per hectare in 1972 (when Tripura became a fullfledged state) to 2,946 kg per hectare in 2016,” the document added. The mountainous northeastern state targets to produce 935,000 tonnes of food grain in 2017. Under the Krishi Karman Award, another northeastern state, Meghalaya, too gets commendation prize for total food grain production and would receive Rs 1 crore. (IANS)