GoAP according priority to agri, allied sectors: CM

NEW DELHI, Jul 18: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu said his government is according high priority to the development of agriculture and allied sectors by earmarking maximum funds for the sector in the state’s 2018 budget.
Khandu was speaking during the first sitting of the High Powered Committee of Chief Ministers for Transformation of Indian Agriculture at the NITI Aayog here on Thursday, chaired by Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis and union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar.
Khandu said there is need for doing away with “the middlemen menace in Arunachal, where local farm and horticulture produces are bought at throwaway prices but sold at higher prices outside the state.”
The CM informed the sitting about the enactment of the Arunachal Pradesh Agriculture Produce and Livestock Marketing Act, 2018, to help the state’s farmers.
“To end the intermediaries in sale of farm produces, the budget has also allocated funds for construction of wholesale market-cum-auction centres across the state, which will be linked with e-NAM, so that produces can be sold online,” he said.
Highlighting other challenges faced by the state, the chief minister said “since Arunachal is a late starter in agriculture and horticulture sectors, it will require continuous support from the Centre, particularly in identifying state-specific farm produces and varieties that can be exported.”
Khandu also urged the Centre to assist the state in identifying the varieties of exportable species of orchids, flowers, and horticulture crops.
Among otheres, Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar and Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani attended the discussion. (CMO)