‘Need to increase agricultural output’

Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Thursday stressed on the need for better coordination between soil conservation and irrigation to obtain increased agricultural output in the state.
“The government is committed to uplift the farming community of the state through various measures for achieving high growth in agricultural sector,” Sonowal said addressing FFCSWR-2017 here.
Stating that this year’s state budget shows the commitment of the government towards farming community, he said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of making the North East as an organic hub would be soon realised since the practice will be intensively encouraged in the coming years.
Referring to Chief Minister’s Samagra Grammya Unnayan Yojna (CMSGUY), Sonowal said the scheme has been launched to achieve holistic development of the villages by finding out the core strength of every village and work towards making that strength sustainable and economically viable.
“The government is keen for economic uplift of the villages through tourism,” he said.
“Along with agricultural sector we will transform the villages into hubs of economic activity in the coming years” the Chief Minister said.
Noting that farmers of some districts in the state are involved in triple cropping, Sonowal said that he has decided to interact with all such “progressive farmers” to get first-hand experience of their success stories.
He also directed the soil conservation dept to popularise rain water harvesting and take steps for retaining the water level of integrated watershed projects for judicious utilisation of water during winter season.
Sonowal said that during 2002-03 to 2012-13, the farm income in Assam had recorded only 0.88 per cent as against the national average of 5.2 per cent and urged the agricultural scientists of the state to come up with ways to increase the farm income. (PTI)