Correspondent
PASIGHAT, 24 Jan: Agriculture Minister Tage Taki urged farmers to grow indigenous crops like maize, oilseeds and grams on large scales to boost their income.
Attending a meeting organized by the state BJP Kisan Morcha here in East Siang district on Monday, Taki also advised the farmers to produce fodder and fish feed from locally available resources.
Speaking about the government’s schemes for farmers, Taki asked the party workers to make the farmers aware of the schemes and assist the villagers in availing them.
BJP national general secretary Shambu Kumar said that the country’s economy depends largely on agriculture and allied sectors, and advised the farmers to adopt scientific agriculture practices.
Kumar informed that the party will organize a three-day NE regional level farmers’ meet here in March, and that agriculture scientists, researchers and progressive farmers from across the country are expected to attend it.
State BJP general secretary Nalom Mize said that more than one lakh hectares of cultivable land are lying barren in the state, and that the state’s farmers could harness only 50 percent of the state’s potential in agriculture.
He cited connectivity problem and lack of technical knowledge and financial resources as the main challenges for the farmers.
Doimukh MLA Tana Hali Tara, Pasighat East MLA Kaling Moyong, state BJP Kisan Morcha president Dinggoli Libang and progressive farmer Ojing Aze also spoke.
Earlier, Taki inaugurated an eco-friendly pig farm in Berung, on the outskirt of Pasighat town.
The minister also inaugurated a building of the district veterinary hospital in Pasighat and the administrative building of the State Agricultural Management & Extension Training Institute at the GTC.
Later, Taki proceeded to Dibang Valley HQ Roing, where he inaugurated another eco-friendly pig shed and the district veterinary hospital in the presence of MLAs Tara and Mutchu Mithi, Agri-Horti Secretary Bidol Tayeng and Deputy Commissioner Soumya Saurabh.
The pig shed has a capacity to house 30 sows and two boars. (With DIPRO input)
