Manipur Agriculture Minister Th Biswajit on Monday called on the farmers of the state to start adopting the method of natural farming concerning the various health hazards arising out of using chemical fertiliser.
To encourage natural farming the government is planning to introduce nano fertiliser and reduce the allocation of urea (chemical fertiliser), he added.
Biswajit was delivering his speech during the launching of assistance for off-farm inputs through DBT to 7,000 registered organic farmers of Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region (MOVCDNER) Phase-III (2020-23) amounting to a total of Rs 2,62,50,000 at New Secretariat in Imphal West.
The minister also informed that a series of training programmes on natural farming by collaborating with successful famers from outside states will also start in the state soon.
Clarifying the conspiracy on Oil Palm plantation which is likely to be launched in April, he said that the government has already fixed the minimum procure price for the products. So, it will not be an issue for the farmers even if the market goes down, the minister added.
Concerning any possible shortages of irrigation facilities, he informed that the government is working on a new scope and action plan to tap underground water as a supplementary or alternative source of irrigation.
Moreover, the government is ready to give benefits to the framers for constructing farm ponds, he added.
Considering the loss of numerous paddy land, the government is taking up various initiatives by ways of implementing the Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act, he said, however, the agriculture department remains a weak department as it has no authority to take action against the violators except reporting the matter to the concerned authorities.
MOVCDNER, which is a central sponsored scheme, aims at development of certified organic production in a value chain mode to link growers with consumers and to support the development of entire value chain starting from inputs, seeds, certification, to the creation of facilities for collection, aggregation, processing, marketing and brand building initiative.
