Violence affecting farmers badly: MOMA project director
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, July 25 2023:
Manipur Organic Mission Agency (MOMA) project director K Devdutta Sharma has said that the ongoing violence is not only having severe impact on people of the state but also the farmers.
K Devdutta told some media persons during an interaction on Tuesday that unabated violence since early part of May is hindering implementation of schemes taken up by horticulture and soil conservation department.
As the ongoing violence affects farmers of both hills and valley directly and indirectly, their economy too has been severely affected.
Under the Ministry of Agriculture, MOMA has been implementing projects of Organic Mission of Ministry of Agriculture's Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region (MOVCDNER) in phased manner every' three years.
With the completion of the third phase, Organic Mission activities for the fourth phase are to be taken up from this year (2023) and approval for the same was already given by the ministry.
Under the fourth phase, the department planned to take up plantation of organic agriculture and horticulture crops in 15 acres land with GPS tagging.
As planting season for the fourth phase had almost lapsed due to the unrest situation, it is almost impossible to take up Organic Mission activities for the phase now, he said.
According to K Devdutta, Manipur receives additional funding from the ministry among the North Eastern states for effective implementation of the scheme and area coverage for mission increases every year.
Other states of the region will receive fund for the phase next year but Manipur has to start activities for the phase next year.
Taking up activities for the phase next year too is unpredictable if the violence con tinues in which case it would be great loss for farmers of the state, he added.