Potato Mission Awaits Government Nod for Launch newsonindia.co.in/ NOI BHUBANESWAR: The Directorate of Horticulture has sought approval of the State Government for launching the State Potato Mission from ensuing financial year. The Directorate has submitted an Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) memorandum to the Agriculture Department for administrative approval and concurrence of the Finance Department. Since the financial implication of the mission will be about Rs.544.32 crore over three years upto 2017-18 financial year with additional expenditure of about Rs.40 crore towards electricity subsidy for six years, the proposal requires approval of the Chief Minister. It will be a mere formality as the Chief Minister announced the mission on December 27 last year, official sources said. It has been proposed that 50 per cent of the project cost will be funded from the State plan while the balance would be sourced from various Central plans and schemes like National Horticulture Mission (NHM), Rashtriya Krishi Vikash Yojana (RKVY) and Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA). The objective of the mission is to make the State self-sufficient in production of potato in next three years. The proposed Potato Mission will function under Odisha Horticulture Development Society. The Directorate of Horticulture will house the Potato Mission to act as the nodal agency in the State and will be responsible for production, storage and distribution of potatoes. The Mission proposes to constitute a Project Monitoring Unit (PMU) by recruiting five experts from the fields of Management, Finance, Horticulture, Information Technology and Engineering, with three support staff. Apart from creating awareness on various schemes regarding potato production and establishment of cold storages, the mission will focus on IEC (information, education and communication) activities and capacity building of farmers. The State Government has accepted the Task Force proposal to provide incentives to the farmers (Rs.40,000 per hectare in 2015-16 to Rs.15,000 per hectare in 2017-18) for cultivating potato in cluster areas. The Government will financially assist the farmers for increased seed production. A buffer stock of potato to combat the short supply situations till 2017-18 has also been proposed. The Odisha State Civil Supplies Corporation (OSCSC) will fund the procurement and storage of potato.
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 04:31:34 +0000
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