RS. 585 CRORE SCHEME FOR PROMOTION
OF HORTICULTURE IN NORTH-EAST
Expansion of cold
storage facilities, promotion of post harvest management technologies,
creation of production infrastructure and marketing network etc.
will be taken up in the North Eastern states and Sikkim with an
investment of Rs. 585 crore for large scale promotion of horticulture
in the region. This was stated by Shri Mohan Kanda, Secretary
in the Ministry of Agriculture at a review meeting of the Technology
Mission on Integrated Development of Horticulture in the North-eastern
States here today. He said the potential of horticulture in the
region remained vastly untapped and the necessary infrastructure,
production and marketing linkages would be put in place by the
year 2007 to enable integrated development of horticulture in
the region.
Horticulture
Commissioner and Mission Director, Dr. H. P. Singh said horticultural
production is targeted to be increased to 265 million tones by
2007 from 153 million tones in 2001-02. He further said horticulture
sector is contributing 29.65 per cent of Gross Domestic Product
in agriculture sector and has high potential for employment opportunities.
The Technology Mission would lead to horticulture led transformation
in the region to address nutritional adequacy, employment opportunities,
and livelihood security in the region.
The Technology
Mission on Integrated Development of Horticulture in the North-eastern
States and Sikkim was launched during the last financial year
with an allocation of Rs. 67 crore and an amount of Rs. 585 crore
will be invested in the region by 2007. Under this Mission, area
under horticulture has been expanded by 11,592 hectares during
the last financial year besides constructing 178 community tanks,
102 tube wells, 262 greenhouses, 54 nurseries and 6 new processing
units. Facilities have been improved in 67 markets in the region.
