Staff Reporter
DIMAPUR, OCTOBER 17
NAGALAND Legislative Assembly Speaker Chotisuh Sazo Thursday urged the agricultural universities and institutes to take up the noble mission of generating human resources that serves as job creators rather than job seekers.
He said this while addressing a mammoth gathering of farmers, agriculture scientists and students at the inaugural programme of the three-day Naga Kheti Mela which commenced at SASRD-NU, Medziphema campus on Thursday. The Speaker also stressed the need for a separate and sustainable policy for development of agriculture and allied activities for the hill regions of Northeast.
To this, he urged upon the professors, scientists and research scholars working with the central universities/institutions to take it to the knowledge of policy makers from the mainland through their research and findings.
“As majority of the Indian policy makers are from plains, the voices from the mountain states are not heard enough, especially when policies are formulated for the country. It is but natural that most of the policies are biased towards the river plains,” Sazo said adding that there are multiple issues pertaining to the mountains that need to be attended on war footing.
“The mountains are regarded as remote and fragile and its sustainable development is never taken seriously. As a result, the people who live in the mountains, very often live in abject poverty and misery inspite of its abundant natural resources,” Sazo said while noting that North East India is one of the richest reservoirs of biodiversity in the world.
With the changing agriculture scenario and global competition, the Speaker underlined the need for commercializing agriculture by exploiting the available resources at maximum level.
He encouraged the farmers of the State to go for professional farming and also towards large scale cultivation as it will help increase their production and towards sustenance.
Voicing appreciation that a mela of such kind is being initiated, he expressed confidence that the mela will further the knowledge of agriculture scenario in the state.
