Staff Reporter,
Guwahati, November 16: With a view to expanding and increasing millet cultivation across the state, Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma launched Assam Millet Mission at a function held at Khanapara here today. Along with launching the Millet Mission, Chief Minister Dr. Sarma also inaugurated six Soil Testing and Quality Control Laboratory at Bongaigaon, Morigaon, Udalguri, Golaghat, Karimganj and Darrang and two knowledge centres at Dhemaji and Titabor virtually at the same programme. Synchronizing with the programme, Chief Minister Dr. Sarma also started the process of distributing 126 combined harvester, 1000 mini trucks, 450 village level farm machinery bank, 12000 Solar PV Pump Set, 8500 five HP Diesel Pump set, 5091 power tillers, seeds 223963 quintals, 1461 multipurpose pulveriser. Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Dr. Sarma said, “In the annals of agriculture history of the state, it is a historic day. The day which marks the launching of Assam Millet Mission is targeted to raise nutrition quotient and doubling of farmers’ income. The mission will also increase crop productivity and contribute to crop diversification”. Specifying his government’s initiatives for the welfare of the farming community, Chief Minister Dr. Sarma urged upon the farmers to take the advantage of Mission Basundhara 2.0 and convert the status of their lands to patta land. He also informed that from next year, his government has set the MSP for paddy at Rs. 2040 per quintal. He, therefore, asked the farmers to sell their paddy to the government. He also said that with the subsidy, the government is helping the local youth to set up mills and other agri infrastructure. Chief Minister Dr. Sarma also asked the farmers to plant trees of different varieties, for example sal, agar etc around their farmland which besides giving them commercial benefits will also mark demarcation of their lands. He also asked them to diversify in palm farming. Moreover, considering the huge demands of lemon, bhut jolokia, joha rice, he asked the farmers to grow these crops abundantly to become economically self-sufficient. He also asked them to be judicious in their farming practices and help the state in starting a new revolution in agriculture. He also talked on the necessity of making Assam self-sufficient in milk, poultry, fish, egg etc and the government’s intervention to give a new lease of life to these sectors. Additional Chief Secretary Agriculture Asish Bhutani gave the welcome speech in the programme which was attended among others by Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Ranjeet Kumar Dass, Minister for Public Health Engineering etc Jayanta Malla Baruah, Minister for Tea Tribe Welfare Sanjay Kishan, MLA Dispur Atul Bora, Chairman Assam State Agriculture Marketing Board Manoj Baruah, progressive farmers and host of other dignitaries.
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