Eastern Mirror Desk
Dimapur, May 6 (EMN): The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) aims to remove world’s hunger by 2050. In the small tribal community of Nagaland in India’s Northeast region the state’s department of Agriculture has a target too: achieve food security by 2025 with a vision toward feasible and economically viable agriculture production in the state by said year.
However, objectives aside, natural resources-based sustainable agriculture is decreasing due to a decline in eco-system and because of manmade activities. For stated reason, efficiency is required for improvement in production and productivity to achieve food security, according to the annual administrative report of the Agriculture department for 2017-18.
In its 28-page annual report the department stated that a ‘cadre review’ of the department, which was the first of its kind in 50 years, was complete.
All the district’s agriculture establishments have been upgraded to the level of joint director of agriculture, deputy district agriculture officer (DDAO) and posted to assist the district agriculture officer (DAO). Seven new sub divisional agriculture officer (SDAO) establishments have been created for Chiephobozou, Medziphema, Longkhim, Tamlu, Naginimora, Seyechong, and Pungro.
In the report concerning agriculture engineering, the department maintained that it had taken up construction of 81 agriculture link roads as part of the rural infrastructure development fund (RIDF-XIX) tranche financed by the Nabard. The project is an ongoing programme implemented by the department.
‘An amount of (funds) INR 38, 31, 20, 000 cr. was approved against the 81 numbers of projects for RIDF-XIX and so far 85% of the said works has been completed. An amount of (funds) INR 2450.00 lakhs has been released by the NABARD up to 2017-18. The project could not be completed due to non receipt of the remaining amount of INR 13, 81, 20, 000 cr.’
In its endeavour for women in agriculture, the department’s ongoing “women in agriculture” programme of the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (Hindi for ‘state plan scheme of additional central assistance’) during 2017-18 could be implemented in six districts. The districts are Kohima, Dimapur, Kiphire, Longleng, Peren, and Wokha comprising 16 self help groups from 16 villages. The programme has the objective ‘women empowerment through knowledge and expertise.’
Some of the activities that were undertaken during 2017-18 for women in agriculture includes village-based training prioritising their interest and potential, besides farming activities that were undertaken.
Resource personnel from the department who trained them included resource people in poultry management, floriculture, and fruit preservation, among others. Also, produce and activities of self help groups were showcased.
Further, as part of ‘education and training,’ the state’s Agriculture department provides stipends in the range INR 700 and INR 900 per student for them to undergoing undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.
Besides, there are book grants, reimbursements, and ‘thesis grants’ to name a few incentives which are part of the state plan of education and training. The incentives have brought benefits to about 554 students from within and outside the state during the year 2017-18, the department’s annual report states.
In addition, it reports, 25% state share to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research’s (ICAR) 75% funding for School of Agriculture Sciences and Rural Development (SASRD) Rural Agriculture Working Experience (RAWE) fee was being sponsored and the pro-rata fee for North Eastern Council quota at Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat for state nominees.
The basic information provided by the state agriculture department are-total population (19, 78, 502), rural population (14, 07, 536), and urban population (5, 70,966). The totals: farming households (2, 50,360), geographical area (16, 579 sq.km), cultivable area (7, 21, 924 ha), gross cropped area (4, 47, 060 ha), double-cropped area (1, 07, 860 ha), net cropped area (3, 39, 200 ha), gross irrigated area (1, 25, 010 ha), net irrigated area (1, 16, 380 ha).
Food grain production for 2017-18 is 735800 Metric Tonne (anticipated), oilseeds production for 2017-18 is 71490 MT (anticipated), commercial production for 2017-18 is 478720 MT (anticipated) and food grain productivity (2182 kg/ha).
The National-Governance plan-Agriculture in Nagaland (NeGP-A) a centrally sponsored scheme approved by the government of India was launched on July 29 2015 which will make current service delivery mechanism more efficient, transparent and accountable stated the annual report.
The department has equipped and set up with hardware and connectivity at 37 locations which includes 11 DAOs and 26 SDAOs for agriculture, 11 sites for horticulture and 11 sites for the fisheries sector in the NeGPA implementation programme.
Also the department has developed and launched two mobile apps for the benefit of farmers and citizens. The apps are are available for download for Android smart phones. They are the Nagaland Local Plant Directory, an information bank of local plants available in the state, and Naga Farm Doctor, an interactive app to connect farmers to subject experts to diagnose and solve various plant disease and pest issues.
