Agriculture Minister Pradip Maharathy on Wednesday assured the Assembly that the State Government would set up cold storage facility in all blocks within the next five years.
Admitting that lack of storage facility is a major problem affecting the farmers, the Minister said the Government is providing special incentive for construction of cold storage, but the response is not encouraging.
Replying to a question from Sanjib Sahu (BJD), Maharathy said farmers are facing problems due to lack of infrastructure which needs immediate attention. The BJD in its election manifesto had promised to develop cold storage facility in each block.
The State Government is in the process of setting up market terminals at Nildunguri in Sambalpur district and Berhampur in Ganjam district to help the farmers to store and market their produce like potato and onion, he said.
The Government has planned to send selective farmers to Nashik, the major onion producing district in Maharashtra, to learn about the storage facility there for the vegetable. Though the State is self sufficient in onion production, it has to depend on other states for the vegetable in the absence of storage facility.
Maharathy said plans are afoot to set up ‘Odisha Haat’ on the Horticulture Department land lying vacant near Unit-I market. The proposed market will have facility for storage and marketing of agricultural produce and work on construction of the haat will commence soon.
Similarly, the Government is considering setting up a ‘phool mandi’(flower mandi) and provide incentives to the women farmers to take up floriculture in a big way.
The Minister said farmers’ convention will be held at Balasore, Berhampur and Sambalpur from September to December every year to felicitate progressive farmers. Successful farmers will be awarded by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the convention.
No comments:
Post a Comment