Shillong Feb 19: Union Minister of State (MoS) for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Parshottam Rupala urged upon all stakeholders of the North Eastern Region to play a pivotal role to promote organic farming through judicious use of fertilizers as per prescription provided in the soil health cards.

In his address at the workshop on Soil Health Card Day and Mission Organic Value Chain Development for NER organised at ICAR for NEH Region, Umïam on Wednesday, the Union Minister emphasised that successful implementation of Soil Health Scheme is one of the major strategies for achieving the primary goal of doubling farmers’ income by 2022 by reducing input cost of cultivation.

He also appreciated the activities of all stakeholders for development of agriculture in the region through Soil Health Card Scheme and Organic Mission.

He also urged upon the concerned officials, KVKs and farmers to intensify their efforts through holistic approach for improving soil health leading to enhanced productivity, profitability and sustainability in agriculture.

He expressed his happiness to learn that some states in the North Eastern region initiated steps for exporting organic agricultural products such as fruit, vegetable and spice crops to other countries.

The Minister congratulated, Trinity Saïoo, the Padmashree Awardee from Meghalaya on her remarkable achievement towards development of agriculture and enhancement of income of farmers in the state.

Additional Secretary for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Dr. (Ms) Alka Bhargava in her address stated that Soil Health Card should be used as a medium to promote organic agriculture in the region.

She also stated that this scheme could act as a medium for checking the pattern of jhum cultivation in the region by strengthening the jhumia farmers.

Dr. Bhargava was highly enlightened by the response from the farmers and gave her suggestions for the success of the programme and mainly for overall livelihood improvement of the farmers.

She also mentioned about the importance of training programmes for potential farmers in the states so that they may act as master trainers for other farmers in agriculture development.

Officials from various line departments of different states of the North Eastern Region briefed about their achievements, outcome and impact of Soil Health Card Scheme in their respective states.

Some of the progressive farmers of the states of Assam, Manipur and Meghalaya also shared their experiences and views for development of agriculture and horticulture during the workshop. The programme was attended by over 450 participants from across the North Eastern region.