Arunachal Pradesh on Friday launched Mission Arun Himveer under which locally sourced agriculture and poultry products will be supplied to Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel deployed in the frontier state.

“Under the initiative, the state government through APAMB (Arunachal Pradesh Agriculture Marketing Board) will supply fruits, vegetables, meat and poultry products to the ITBP (North East Frontier) procured from local farmers, SHGs, FPOs and farmer cooperatives,” a state government statement said.

Mission Arun Himveer took off with the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the APAMB and the ITBP, North East Frontier, on Friday, envisaging achieving short-term goals of the APAMB in “providing ready-made markets for far-flung villages and circles with low marketable surplus and creating a vibrant economy besides solving employment issues across the state”.

Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu, congratulating the APAMB for the initiative, said with the ITBP agreeing to purchase local produce, the issue of limited market of local farmers will be resolved to a huge extent.

According to the MoU, the ITBP can procure directly from farmers and payment would be made by APAMB out of the revolving fund of ₹4 crore granted by the state government on behalf of ITBP. The amount will be then reimbursed to the Board after reconciliation by ITBP, the statement said.

Under the mission, 100 per cent of the funds will go directly to the farmers and APAMB envisages that more than ₹10 crores of business will be done in a year.