NEW DELHI, 26 Mar: Arunachal Pradesh’ Agriculture Minister Tage Taki advocated “bringing scientific technical acumen for field-level workers and farmers” to ensure enhancement in the production of agricultural produce, besides livestock and fishery, to ensure sustainable development of the sector.
Participating in a meeting of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research at the NASC Complex here on Saturday, Taki lauded the efforts of the agricultural scientists of the country “in ushering the agri and allied sector to the path of self-reliance through scientific research and development of newer technical intervention,” according to a release.
He highlighted several achievements and shortcomings under the agriculture and allied sectors in Arunachal, and asked the ICAR and the central government to “intervene and mitigate those shortcomings to envisage augmentation of the state to become a new growth engine in agriculture and allied sector in the days to come.”
Taki also highlighted the need for certain interventions from the ICAR, such as support for establishment of a college of agriculture & horticulture in East Kameng district; establishment of a college of veterinary science in the state; establishment of a regional centre of the Indian Institute of Oil Palm research; establishment of a multidisciplinary university on organic agriculture in Arunachal Pradesh; upgrading of the ICAR state centre in Basar to a full-fledged directorate; establishment of an extension centre of the NRC-Pig in the state; establishment of nine new KVKs in the new districts; and upgrading and strengthening the existing Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture in Dirang (West Kameng).
Taki also urged the ICAR authorities to “enhance funding for some of the research programmes, especially for economically important livestock diseases, which are being run in the state in collaboration with the ICAR.”
He urged the ICAR to “initiate an intensive and focused exotic livestock disease monitoring programme to save the state’s livestock.”
Taki further requested the ICAR to provide financial assistance to set up a BSL-II level disease diagnostic laboratory under the animal husbandry sector in the state. He also urged the ICAR to “strengthen the NRC-Yak in Dirang for augmentation of the only mountain livestock, the yak, through proper scientific involvement.”
Raising the matter of “declination of orange production in Wakro, Tezu and Roing,” he requested for “its immediate mitigation through scientific efforts.”
Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, union Animal Husbandry, Fisheries & Dairying Minister Parshottam Rupala, and Union MoS for Agriculture Kailash Chaudhary assured to look into the matters at the earliest.
ICAR Director General Dr Trilochan Mahapatra praised the minister “for bringing out the bottlenecks of the state and its aspiration from the ICAR,” and assured to look into the issues properly, according to the release.
The meeting was also attended by scientists, professionals and experts in various fields under the agriculture and allied sectors from across the country.
