Tripura government spokesperson Ratanlal Nath on Wednesday claimed that the state ranks second in the country, after Sikkim, in terms of organic farming.
Nath, who is also the education and law minister, told reporters at the secretariat here that the government had stressed on organic farming with a cultivation target of 4,000 hectares and production of 1 lakh MTs crops in three fiscals from 2019-20.
“In the last two fiscals, the state government cultivated different crops like paddy, ginger, turmeric, maize and mustard on 2,000 hectares of land under 60 gram panchayats in 24 rural development blocks across the state. These crops were cultivated in the first phase with a cumulative production and the government spent Rs 19.43 crore.
In the second phase covering three fiscals, the state government has decided to bring 4,000 hectares under organic farming and procure 1 lakh MTs crops. “The land is located under 130 gram panchayats of 35 rural development blocks across the state. The crops include paddy, turmeric, chilly and pineapple,” Nath said.
He said under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana, 1.95 lakh farmers have received Rs 139 crore, while 77,523 farmers received Rs 85.58 lakh under the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme.
The farmers received Rs 18.20 crore, selling 10,406MT in the kharif season in the 2018-19 fiscal. For the first time, farmers sold 16,870MT of Rabi season rice and earned Rs 29.50 crore in the 2019-20 fiscal, he said.
“Recently, the state cabinet approved the purchase of 30MT crops from the farmers and they will get Rs 54.45 crore,” Nath said.
Nath has recently also claimed that his government provided 30,664 free water connections to rural households in just 22 months while the Left Front government had provided 19,742 paid connections during its 25-year-long regime.
Nath said, “There are 8,723 habitats in the rural areas, of which 6,158 are fully covered with source of water while 2,553 habitats are partially covered and the remaining 12 are left uncovered as there is no source of water”.
Nath said the 22-month-old state government was committed to providing free water connection to each and every household under Atal Jal Dhara Mission to complete 100 per cent connectivity within 2020.
Nath alleged that the Left Front government had not worked for the welfare of the state and its people.
“In the rural areas, the Left Front government gave 19,742 paid water connections during their 25-year regime while the BJP-IPFT government provided 30,664 free water connections in just 22 months. In the urban areas, the Left Front government provided 91,464 paid connections while the BJP-IPFT government gave 4,806 free connections. By 2020, people in the state will get free water connection,” he said.
The minister said his government had installed 107 deep tubewells and started two surface water treatment plants and six innovative schemes in 2018-19 fiscal. In 2019-20 fiscal, installation of 86 deep tubewells, one surface water treatment plant and four innovative schemes were started, he added.
