Guwahati, Feb. 14: Union minister for agriculture and farmers' welfare Radhamohan Singh today laid the foundation stone of a centre of Agricultural Technology Application Research Institutes here at Kahikuchi.
The centre will look after welfare and functioning of the Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVK) located in 25 districts of Assam, 14 districts in Arunachal Pradesh and four in Sikkim, covering 64 per cent area and 71 per cent population of the Northeast.
"After considering the geographical scenario and benefits of farmers of this region, we have decided to open a new research institute here. It will provide technology dissemination and extension needs and management for Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim," Singh said.
Among others, Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal, BJP MPs Bijoya Chakravarty and Ramen Deka and the director of the institute's Uriam centre, A.K. Tripathi, were present at the programme.
The Uriam centre also organised Assam Krishi Unnayan Mela and a national seminar on the occasion of the programme where nearly 3,000 farmers from across Assam participated.
Singh said the report of the site-selection committee for establishment of another KVK in Dima Hasao district has already been submitted to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and is at the final stage of its sanction.
According to him, Assam has contributed substantially to the food basket of the Northeast and has the potential to fulfil the foodgrain demand of the whole region. He said the region has the highest per capita availability of water in the country, but seldom has its potential been utilised.
Singh said the Assam government has not spent Rs 1.33 crore it was allotted by the Centre for management of "soil health card" in the state.
"The country's population is going up, but agricultural land is not increasing. The Centre has decided that the 14 crore farmers who have lands should be issued a soil health card so that they can know what diseases they have on the fields and accordingly how much pesticides and fertilisers can be used. For this, the Assam government has been allotted Rs 1.33 crore for the management of soil health card in the state, but till now that amount remains unspent by the state government," he said.
