Agriculture is still the backbone of Nagaland’s economy, says minister Aye

Our Correspondent
Kohima, Aug. 6 (EMN): Agriculture sector remains to be the mainstay of the state’s economy, as it makes a major contribution to the state’s annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and continues to be the main source of income for the farming community.

Minister for Agriculture and Cooperation G Kaito Aye said this while discussing on ‘Post Covid-19 Economic Recovery’ during the eighth session of the 13th Nagaland Legislative Assembly (NLA) on Thursday.

Expressing concern over Agri & Allied sector being severely affected by climate change, Aye appealed to all the legislators to focus on schemes and programmes that could strengthen the farming community and extend all possible support to the farmers during the difficult times.

FAW affects 5.18% of cultivation area

The minister maintained that economic sectors have been badly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, and on top of that, fall armyworm (FAW) infestation has affected more than 3049 hectares of kharif crops covering 334 villages in 10 districts namely: Mon, Tuensang, Noklak, Wokha, Zunheboto, Phek, Kohima, Kiphire, Dimapur and Peren.

Altogether, 5.18% of the total cultivation area has been affected, he added.

He informed that to address the problem faced by the affected farmers, a dedicated cell has been formed to monitor the situation and field staff has been deputed for monitoring and controlling FAW.

He further said that seeds are being redistributed to the farmers free of cost and the department is taking necessary action to mitigate the infestation.

Drought-like situation

Meanwhile, the minister stated that the drought-like-situation caused by shortfall of rain has tremendously affected paddy transplantation in many parts of the state, causing a setback in land preparation and raising of nursery. This has affected 29,050 hectares of wet terrace rice cultivation, 35% area in total and covering about 80 villages.

The already sown paddy seedlings have become overage, making it economically unviable for transplantation, he said.

The minister pointed out that about 70% of the rain-fed jhum fields covering 915 villages from across the state and measuring about 72,664 hectares have been affected by rain deficiency and non-germination of crops.

Towards this, he informed that the Agriculture department had prepared a Crop Calendar for Nagaland and released for the first time on July 20 2021 in order to guide the farmers and for the ready-reference of the field officers. District-wise crop calendar has also been published and distributed.

State in food grain production

Aye pointed out that over the years, the state has been making significant and steady progress in food grain production, from 7.38 lakh metric ton during 2019-20 to 7.55 lakh metric ton during 2020-21.

However, he conveyed that the current situation raises a huge concern for the state’s economy as it is estimated that the production of agriculture and allied sectors could be reduced by 50% during the current financial year 2021-22 owing to climate change.

He maintained that to review the situation, the chief minister had a meeting with the Agri and Allied departments on June 15 2021, and decided to enhance water availability through check dams, water bodies, water harvesting ponds, diversion channels, revival and rejuvenation of springs and rivers. Subsequently, a Core Committee of Agri. and Allied departments headed by the Agriculture Production Commissioner (APC) was formed and decision was made to distribute early rabi seeds to the affected farmers in September.

The department has been at the forefront in the development of agriculture in the state despite challenges posed by the Covid pandemic, climate change and natural calamities, he said.

“Visualising the importance of the economic activities, the state government has set up a committee headed by the chief secretary to review the economic activities carried by the departments post Covid pandemic. This was to plan and implement departmental interventions so as to improve the livelihood of the people amidst the pandemic,” he stated.

He also highlighted that the Agri and Allied departments has undertaken Naga Model Integrated Settled Farming (NiSF) to create an effective ecosystem which is self-sustainable and scientific in nature, and the Pilot Model Project under NiSF has been implemented in Boke-Botsa under Kohima district and is making a visible progress. He added that it would be implemented in other districts in the near future.

To boost export of organic products

The minister informed that Organic AC Market at Agri Expo. Dimapur along with cold storage facilities was constructed and inaugurated on December 8 2020.

He said that the Nagaland State Agriculture Marketing Board (NSAMB) has purchased more than 155 metric tonnes of organic vegetables from all the districts till date, with Phek accounting for maximum share in business.

‘The NSAMB is sending refrigerator vans to places with surplus productions to facilitate easy and safe movement of the produce from farmers to the markets,’ he said. Mentioning the recent export of Naga king chilli (Raja Mircha) to London, he said plans are on to export more products.

2 lakh benefitted under PM-Kisan

Aye said that a total of 2,00,082 (about 2 lakh) farmers have benefited under PM-KISAN and an amount of INR 251,74, 82,000 has directly credited in each individual’s bank accounts. He however said that it was found during verification about 524 non-eligible beneficiaries from Dimapur and Wokha having received the scheme amounting to INR 45 lakh.

Further, he informed that similar exercise would be conducted in other districts, adding that non-eligible beneficiaries couldn’t be allowed to benefit on behalf of genuine farmers.

He also reiterated that the Centre has granted an additional fund for construction of 100-bedded farmers hostel at Agri. Expo, Dimapur, for which work is in progress and is expected to be completed next year.

He further informed that the department of Agriculture has given priority for establishment of one each Model Agriculture Project (MAP) in all districts under RKVY, while construction of field channels, water harvesting structure, etc. under PMKSY have been given priority to mitigate drought-like situations in the future.

419 cooperative societies assisted

Meanwhile, the minister stated that the Cooperation department, through National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC), had sponsored Integrated Cooperative Development Project (ICDP) and assisted 419 cooperative societies involving 24288 farmers in Tuensang, Kiphire, Longleng, Kohima and Peren.

He also informed that post Covid-19 pandemic, 28 marketing transport vehicles (Bolero pickup trucks) were distributed to 28 cooperative societies to boost their agri marketing business, including 3 cooperative marketing bus to the large and progressive cooperative societies, besides one mechanised compressed bricks unit at Kiphire and two mithun rearing units at Tuensang and Kiphire respectively.