Bhubaneswar: The Centre will provide more assistance to the Cyclone Fani-affected coconut farmers of Odisha, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar said Monday.
Addressing farmers at a meeting held here to celebrate the 21st World Coconut Day, he said the Coconut Development Board (CDB) has already allocated Rs 29.65 crore for the state’s farmers who were hit by Fani.
“We are aware of the plight of Odisha’s coconut farmers and are eager to help them. The state government should follow due process so that we can grant more funds from the CDB and the Agriculture Ministry,” he said.
Around one crore farmers are engaged in coconut farming and India produces 33 per cent of the total global coconut output. The Centre is committed to empowering the agriculture sector to increase our GDP. Coconut farming needs more attention to achieve this, the minister said.
“The Centre has decided to open 10,000 Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) across the country. The CDB is also playing a great role in developing the skills of farmers. Altogether 484 coconut-based industrial units have so far been set up across the country with Central support. We are on a mission to double it by 2022. We want more and more educated farmers to launch start-ups,” he added.
Declaring that the Centre is committed to achieving a $5 trillion economy he said to achieve the target the income of farmers has to be doubled.
“We are also giving Rs 6,000 to all farmers in the country under the PM Kishan Yojana and we want more Odisha farmers to get this,” Tomar said.
State Agriculture Minister Arun Kumar Sahoo, who was also present, said coconut farmers have been hit by frequent natural calamities which have destroyed around four lakh coconut trees, and that farmers need help to recoup their losses. Sahoo requested the CDB to implement all schemes meant for the state’s coconut farmers.