Organic farming for Northeast on Amul model

BY OUR STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, May 27: DoNER minister Dr Jitendra Singh today announced an organic farming mission for the Northeast that will be shaped on the And model (Amul) of Gujarat.

“The concept note on the project has been sent to different ministries. After the feed-back from the ministries, a fil note will be prepared which will be placed in the cabinet for approval,” Dr Singh told a press conference here.

The focus of the mission will be fruits and large cardamoms.

A DoNER official told this newspaper that the ministry is looking at fruits like kiwi (Aruchal Pradesh, passion fruits, ginger, strawberry, turmeric and pineapple.

Large Cardamom presently grown in Sikkim and parts of West Bengal is being extended to the States of Aruchal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur and galand. The Spices Board has plans to set up a Centre of Excellence in large cardamom research, common facility centre, training centre and quality testing lab in 25 acres of land in Aruchal Pradesh. The board also plans to set up cardamom auction centres in msai and Kimin in Aruchal Pradesh. States like Assam, Aruchal Pradesh, Manipur, galand, Tripura, Meghalaya and Mizoram are suitable for spice farming

Dr Singh said that the focus area will be driven by the market trend.

“We have already held discussions with the business community and representatives from neighbouring states like Bhutan and Myanmar. We feel that the products will have takers in our immediate neighbourhood,” the DoNER minister said.

“This will not only be a major project but it will become symbolic of the Make in Northeast initiative. It will also help promote the Act East policy,” the minister said.

Earlier, the DoNER minister also kicked off projects worth Rs 200 crore for Assam.

These projects, mainly related to roads and water supply, were either delayed or kept on hold due to different reasons.

The distinctive feature of these schemes is that their priority has been decided by the State government.

Meanwhile, during a meeting with the DoNER minister, Assam Chief Minister took up the issue of non-release of funds by the Centre despite being given utilization certificates. Gogoi said that utilization certificates of the multi-level car parking at Ambari (Rs 5.23 crore), Assam Institute of Magement (Rs 5.16 crore) and some road projects of gaon and Dhubri have been submitted to the Centre, but the amounts were not released so far.