ITANAGAR, Sep 3: Giving a boost to state’s agriculture and horticulture sectors, Chief Minister Pema Khandu today launched two ambitious schemes - one for agriculture sector called ‘AtmaNirbhar Krishi Yojana’ and the other for horticulture ‘AtmaNirbhar Bagwani Yojana’.
The schemes are part of the AtmaNirbhar program as announced in this year’s Budget. A sum of Rs 120 crore – Rs 60 crore for each scheme - has been allocated to the departments of Agriculture and Horticulture for the same.
The AtmaNirbhar Krishi Yojana under the department of Agriculture is the subsumed version of erstwhile Chief Minister’s Sashakt Kisan Yojana and Chief Minister’s Samuh Yojana with more thrust and provision of bank loan. Likewise, AtmaNirbhar Bagwani Yojana is the earlier scheme called CM’s Sashakt Kisan Yojana under the department of Horticulture.
Lauding the departments of Agriculture and Horticulture and the banks for coming together with proper guidelines of the schemes that will immensely benefit farmers and Self-Help Groups (SHGs) across the State, Khandu appealed all to get in touch with their respective district administrations to get the details and avail the schemes.
“These two schemes are unique as these are both based on front-ended subsidies. Credit link will be provided to the beneficiaries by SBI, Arunachal Pradesh Rural Bank and Arunachal Pradesh Cooperative Apex Bank,” Khandu said.
He informed that no document like land possession certificate (LPC) will be required for SHGs availing the schemes. A simple certificate from the concerned EAC, CO or BDO will serve the purpose.
Also there would be no collateral (guarantee or mortgage) in respect of individual schemes up to Rs 1.60 lakh. For SHGs collateral will not be required for loans up to Rs 10 lakh, he said.
“The best part is that the components of the schemes will be 45% Govt subsidy, 45% bank loan and only 10% will have to be borne by the farmer,” informed Khandu.
He expressed optimism that the schemes will be very much beneficial to about 3700 SHGs of the state, which have women members as majority.
Stressing on timely implementation of the schemes as farming is dependent on seasons, the Chief Minister asked the implementing agencies not to wait for the last dates set up for processes like selection of beneficiaries, etc. The departments set up the month of September as the time period for final selection of beneficiaries.
“As per records, we have almost 25 lakh hectares of cultivable land but unfortunately we are using only 3.5 lakh hectares at the moment. We need to utilize our land bank optimally for our state to become Aatmanirbhar (self-sufficient),” he asserted.
The Bagwani Yojana is for cultivation of fruits like apple, kiwi, orange, arecanut, walnut and persimmon while the Krishi Yojana will deal with scientific land terracing, tea and rubber, double-cropping, farm mechanization, FPO, cultivation of buckwheat, O-bollu, apiculture, etc.
The schemes will be implemented through a state level committee headed by the Chief Secretary and district level committees headed by respective Deputy Commissioners. The district agriculture and district horticulture officers will be the implementing officers, who will be selecting the beneficiaries in the districts.
The guidelines for implementation of the schemes have been prepared by NABCONS (NABARD Consultancy Services).
Expressing gratitude to the banks and NABARD, Khandu said under the present government at the Centre, agri-horti sector is getting a push never seen before, especially in the North East.
“Recently the Union Cabinet has revived the North Eastern Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation Ltd (NERAMAC) which will be handholding the NE states in marketing their products. Also the Centre has re-launched the Oil Palm Mission in the region with an amount of Rs 11040 crore for five years,” he informed.
In fact, the oil palm program was being implemented in the state few years back but it couldn’t succeed. About 4000 hac of oil palm trees were cultivated but the promoters failed to establish their factories resulting in loss to the farmers. Khandu said incentives this time have been doubled, which should be viable for promoters.
“We are in touch with some of the promoters and we target to cultivate at least 15000 hac this year,” he said.
He called upon the deputy commissioners, especially of the foothill areas, who were virtually connected to the program, to study feasibility of oil palm cultivation in their respective districts.
The Chief Minister revealed that he has offered to host the proposed regional level Oil Palm Business Summit at Namsai anytime soon. Besides attracting investors, he said the summit will also educate farmers of the state.
The launching ceremony was attended by Dy Chief Minister Chowna Mein, Agriculture & Horticulture Minister Tage Taki, Advisor to Agriculture Minister Gabriel D Wangsu, Advisor to Animal Husbandry & Vety Minister Tana Hali Tara and representatives of banking institutions while Dr K M Bujar Baruah, former Vice Chancellor of Assam Agriculture University, DCs and SHG members from the districts joined it through video conferencing.
Meanwhile, MoUs were signed between the state government and the banks viz., State Bank of India, State Cooperative Apex Bank and AP Rural Bank to mark the occasion.