HT Bureau
GUWAHATI, Nov 16: With a view to expanding and increasing millet cultivation across the state, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma launched Assam Millet Mission at a function held at Khanapara on Wednesday.
Along with launching the Millet Mission, Sarma also inaugurated six Soil Testing and Quality Control Laboratory at Bongaigaon, Morigaon, Udalguri, Golaghat, Karimganj and Darrang and two knowledge centres at Dhemaji and Titabor virtually at the same programme.
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Synchronising with the programme, CM Sarma also started the process of distributing 126 combined harvester, 1000 mini trucks, 450 village level farm machinery bank, 12,000 Solar PV Pump Set, 8,500 five HP Diesel Pump set, 5,091 power tillers, seeds 2,23,963 quintals, 1,461 multipurpose pulveriser.
Speaking on the occasion, CM Sarma hoped that the mission will increase crop productivity and contribute to crop diversification.
The chief minister said that the mission has been launched in synergy with the Prime Minister’s aim of Atmanirbharta (self-sufficiency). With the launch of the millet mission, the farmers of Assam can diversify their cropping practices and other than conventional crops, they can extend their farming to grow millets.
He, therefore, congratulated the Agriculture Department for taking the initiatives in launching the millet mission which in the beginning will be practised in 25,000 hectare crop land. Subsequently it will be extended to 50,000 hectare of farm land in the state.
He also said that the knowledge centres he inaugurated would help the farmers of the state to gain knowledge and handholding about millet farming.
He informed that in the coming days 96 more knowledge centres will be set up across the state under Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) for a quantum leap in agriculture production.
Specifying his government’s initiatives for the welfare of the farming community, chief minister Sarma urged upon the farmers to take the advantage of Mission Basundhara 2.0 and convert the status of their lands to patta land. He also informed that from next year, his government has set the MSP for paddy at Rs 2040 per quintal.
Chief minister Sarma also asked the farmers to plant trees of different varieties, for example sal, agar, etc., around their farmland which besides giving them commercial benefits will also mark demarcation of their lands.
Agriculture minister Atul Bora while speaking on the occasion gave a brief outline of the schemes of his department for the growth of agriculture.
