Odisha failed to spend Horticulture Mission Fund

Bhubaneswar, Sep 2 (PTI) Odisha failed to spend Rs 54.45crore allotted to operationalise the Horticulture Mission lastyear, Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said todayand hoped the state would use the entire amount received fromthe Centre this year. "To operationalise Horticulture Mission in Odisha, anamount of Rs 54.45 crore was released for 2015-16, but thestate could not spend Rs 4.15 crore last year," Singh saidaddressing farmers on World Coconut Day and National Awardpresentation ceremony held here. Stating that Odisha would get Rs 49.91 crore from theCentre for the mission this year, he said so far Rs 26.83crore had already been released to the state where NationalHorticulture Mission has been operational under the Missionfor Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH). The main objective of the mission is to promoteoverall development of bamboo and coconut plantation sectorthrough area based regional strategies. Nearly a quarter of the missionÂ’s budget should be onpost-harvest infrastructure management, especially to buildthe cold supply chain and to link farmersÂ’ producers directlyto market should, he said. In the last two years, National Horticulture Board hasprovided assistance of Rs 6.50 crore to develop horticulturein Odisha through plans like greenhouse, polly house and coldstorage. Several cashew promotion units have been establishedin Odisha’s Koraput and Ganjam districts, he said. The contribution of coconut in the country’s GDP isabout Rs 20,000 crore. In 2015-16 coconut products worth Rs1,450 crore were exported from India. India’s coconut production stood at 2044 crore grownin 19.8 lakh hectare, while coconut productivity per hectareis 10345, the union minister said adding over one crore peoplein the country were dependent on it for livelihood. In Odisha coconut is a major crop and is cultivated inover 50679 hectares and its production is 32.4 crore. Thestate produces 6404 coconuts per hectare. The Coconut Development Board contributestowards the growth of coconut industry, the minister saidadding the Technology Mission on coconut under the Board hasestablished 402 coconut processing units where 242 crorecoconuts are processed per year. MORE PTI SKN KKMR