Conrad inaugurates many devpt projects in West Garo Hills

Shillong: Chief minister Conrad K Sangma inaugurated multiple projects at Babadam in West Garo Hills on Saturday.Among them, the Garo Hills Agro Food Park is an initiative of All Garo Hills Multi Purpose Cooperative Society (AGHMPCS) and is fully funded by the state govt at an estimated cost of Rs 15.73 crore.The park includes mustard, ginger and cashew processing units, hi-tech food lab, solar power plant and 25 cold storage units.“The state govt has outlined its mission to support farmers engaged in agriculture and horticulture. Throughout the state, the govt has given a push for plantation of crops for better inputs, training in packaging, value addition and marketing of products,” the CM said and lauded the cooperative society for promoting rural enterprises through farmers’ collective. He said intervention to empower the farmers and cultivators will be given support to upscale their entities.The newly inaugurated Agro Food Park will process 100MT of raw produce annually, including mustard, cashew, ginger and areca nut. Talking about the govt’s intervention to double farmers’ income in the state, he said, “In the last six years, 166 processing units, 154 warehousing facilities and 34 cold storages have been set up covering the remotest corners of the state.”He said integrated village cooperatives, farmer producer organisations and women’s collectives are being encouraged and promoted by the govt to create a turnaround in the rural economy. “Some of our processing units are the finest and best in the entire northeastern region,” he added.Stating that close to Rs 357 crore has been earmarked for value chain development in the state, he said, “The govt will strengthen existing interventions and invest in new interventions to achieve the goal of more than doubling the income of the 4.5 lakh farming households”.The CM expressed optimism that the Agro Food Park at Babadam, which has demonstrated a successful model, will be replicated in other parts of the state as well.Sangma also said a series of farmers’ orientation programmes and tours will be organised by the govt for sharing of knowledge and learning from each other.
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