Lok Sabha Question No. 38 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-07-18
Subject: Traditional and Sustainable Farming in NER
Ministry: DEVELOPMENT OF NORTH EASTERN REGION
Asked by: PREM DAS RAI

Government of India

Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region

## LOK SABHA

Unstarred Question No. 38

To be answered on

Wednesday, July 18, 2018/Ashadha 27, 1940 (Saka)

## QUESTION

## Traditional and Sustainable Farming in NER

38. SHRI PREM DAS RAI:

Will  the  Minister  of  DEVELOPMENT  OF  NORTH  EASTERN  REGION  be

- pleased to state: (a) the steps taken/being taken to encourage traditional and sustainable farming practices in the North Eastern Region; (b) whether the steps are being taken to promote sustainable infrastructure; and
- (c)
- if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## The Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region [Dr. Jitendra Singh]

- (a) Ministry  of  Agriculture  and  Farmers  Welfare  has  launched  a  Central  Sector Scheme  named  'Mission  Organic  Value  Chain  Development  for  North  Eastern Region'  (MOVCDNER)  for  implementation  in  the  States  of  Arunachal  Pradesh, Assam,  Manipur,  Meghalaya,  Mizoram,  Nagaland,  Sikkim  and  Tripura  during 2015-16  to 2017-18. The scheme  aims  at development  of certified organic production in a value chain mode to link growers with consumers and to support the development  of  entire  value  chain  starting  from  inputs,  seeds,  certification  and creation  of  facilities  for  collection,  aggregation,  processing,  marketing  and  brand building initiative. The scheme was approved with an outlay of Rs.400 crore for three

years.

The  assistance is provided for cluster  development, on/off farm input production, supply of seeds/planting materials, setting up of functional infrastructure, establishment of integrated processing unit, refrigerated transportation, pre-cooling/ cold  stores  chamber,  branding  labelling  and  packaging,  hiring  of  space,  hand holdings, organic certification through third party, mobilization of farmers/processors etc.

(b) National  Bamboo  Mission  (NBM)  is  focused  on  development  of  Bamboo inter alia in the North Eastern States, which has nearly 60% of the country's Bamboo growing stock.  With an outlay of Rs.1290  crore, the NBM  aims  at  holistic development of the Bamboo sector (including in NER) by incentivizing construction industry to give impetus to the use of Bamboo in construction. It seeks to mandate eco-friendly  Government  constructions  through  use  of  Bamboo  and  Bamboo products to give a fillip to this eco-friendly industry. The CPWD has already included Bamboo items in Delhi Schedule of Rates, 2016 and Ministry of Tourism has issued advisories to adopt 'BIS Certified & Energy Efficient' Bamboo Mat based products/ construction works in all the hilly areas and sloped roof.

(c) The State-wise release of funds under MOVCDNER for 2018-19 is given at Annexure .  Against  the  target  of  50000  hectare  (ha.)  area,  45918  ha.  has  been brought  under  the  Organic  Farming.  Against  the  target  of  100  Farmer  Producer Companies (FPCs), 97 FPCs has been achieved.  Against the target of 2500 Farmer Interest Groups (FIGs), 2469 FIGs has been formed and 48948 farmers have been mobilized. The financial releases year-wise are: Rs.112.11crore (2015-16), Rs.47.63 crore (2016-17) and Rs.66.22 crore (2017-18).

Under  the  NBM,  50%  subsidy  for  establishment  of  Bamboo  treatment  and seasoning plants while 50% (plus 10% for NE States) subsidy would be provided for establishment of processing units for value addition of Bamboo.

*****

Annexure

## Annexure refer to in reply to part (c) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 38 for answer on 18.07.2018.

## Table: State-wise budget allocation and release during 2018-19

(Rs. in lakh)

| S. No.   | States            | Fund Released   | Utilized Fund   | Unspent balance   | Budget Allocation   | Amount Released               | Amount released   | Total Released   |
|----------|-------------------|-----------------|-----------------|-------------------|---------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------|------------------|
|          |                   | 2015-18         | 2015-18         | 2015-18           | 2018-19             | Phase-I (Committed liability) | Phase II          | 2018-19          |
|          |                   |                 |                 |                   |                     | (A)                           | (B)               | (A+B)            |
| 1.       | Assam             | 2439.30         | 1665.31         | 773.994           | 1762.61             | -                             | -                 | -                |
| 2.       | Manipur           | 3328.94         | 2419.99         | 908.95            | 2407.10             | 546.86                        | 1203.55           | 1750.41          |
| 3.       | Meghalaya         | 2696.98         | 2352.92         | 344.06            | 2857.79             | 218.07                        | 1428.90           | 1646.97          |
| 4.       | Nagaland          | 3800.46         | 2836.58         | 963.88            | 2096.13             | 649.78                        | 1048.07           | 1697.85          |
| 5.       | Mizoram           | 2174.15         | 2174.15         | 0                 | 1019.12             | 0                             | 75.83             | 75.83            |
| 6.       | Arunachal Pradesh | 2483.41         | 1857.31         | 626.1             | 1634.39             | 1053.36                       | 817.20            | 1870.56          |
| 7.       | Sikkim            | 4216.08         | 4185.81         | 30.27             | 883.85              | 1763.62                       |                   | 1763.62          |
| 8.       | Tripura           | 1456.25         | 1210.31         | 245.94            | 1789.01             | 208.45                        | 894.51            | 1102.96          |
|          | Total             | 22595.57        | 18702.38        | 3893.194          | 14450.00            | 4440.14                       | 5468.06           | 9908.2           |
|          | Office Expenses   | -               | -               | -                 | 1550.00             | -                             | 15.00             | 15.00            |
|          | Grand Total       |                 |                 |                   | 16000.00            | 2676.52                       | 5483.06           | 9923.20          |