State entrepreneurs keen to invest in the agri-horti sector: Arunachal CM Pema Khandu

OUR CORRESPONDENT

ITANAGAR: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Thursday credited the central government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi for uplifting the image of farmers from 'poor' to 'proud entrepreneurs' in a span of eight years with its farmer-centric flagship programs.

Speaking at a function at the College of Agriculture, an extension centre of Central Agriculture University (Imphal) at Pasighat in East Siang district, Khandu said that numerous flagship programs aimed at benefiting agriculture and horticulture sectors have had an impact on the status of farmers and luring young entrepreneurs to take up farming as start-ups.

"Every story in our schoolbooks used to start with the phrase –'Once there lived a poor farmer…' today we are at a stage wherein we will need to rewrite these stories," he said.

Khandu informed that official records showed that many young entrepreneurs coming up to avail benefits of both central and state flagship programs were keen to invest in agriculture and allied sectors, an official communiqué informed.

This trend, he claimed, was in defiance against the 'poor farmer' tag prevailing in the mindset of the common man for ages.

He informed Union Minister for Agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar, who was also at the event, about the hugely successful 'Seva Aapke Dwaar' programme of the state government through which the government is taking all flagship programs of the centre and the state to the doorstep of the farmers.

The Chief Minister informed that so far more than six lakh people have befitted from these camps across the state.

Khandu thanked the central government for focusing on agriculture and allied sectors while drastically improving the connectivity scenario in the state. He viewed that farming and connectivity go hand in hand as far as the marketing of farm produce is concerned.

"By default, we are an organic state and that adds value to our produces. We need to facilitate market linkages to our farmers and this should be a focus area of the experts," he pointed out.

The Chief Minister informed that the state government has already tapped a huge market in the form of Indian Army contingents posted across the state.

"The State Agriculture Department has made a pact with the army for the supply of fresh agricultural produces procured from local farmers at a rate beneficial to both parties. We flagged off the first consignment of vegetables to the army on Independence Day last year," he revealed.

Earlier, Tomar formally inaugurated the administrative and academic buildings and hostels of the Agriculture College in presence of Khandu, state Agriculture Minister Tage Taki, MP Tapir Gao, local MLAs Kaling Moyong and Ninong Ering, CAU Vice Chancellor Prof Anupam Mishra, Dean Dr A K Tripathi and district officials.

The function also marked the conclusion of the two-day kisan mela organized on the college premises with the theme 'Innovations in Potato Farming to Empower Tribal Farmers in the North Eastern Region of India', organized by the College of Agriculture in collaboration with the College of Horticulture and Forestry Pasighat and Krishi Vigyan Kendra, the communiqué added.

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