Agri, forest depts must make farmers aware of govt schemes: Assam CM

 Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday expressed dissatisfaction over the agriculture and forest departments for “lagging behind” in creating awareness among farmers about government schemes meant for their benefit. He said the two divisions, along with the Panchayat and Rural Development (P&RD) Department, should reach out to the farmers at the village and cluster-levels to keep them abreast of the various state and central schemes.

Speaking at the inauguration of the three-day 7th Assam International Agri-Horti Show here, Sarma said, “There have been so many important decisions taken by our government in the past one year for farmers. But I have a feeling that our agriculture and forest departments are lagging behind in talking to people about these.” He took instances of several such programmes like allowing selling of commercial trees planted in private land without the need for permission from the forest department, and processing of certain forest products without commercial license.

The chief minister also said his government has been working for the welfare of the tea industry, and that there has been an increase in export of Assam orthodox tea this year, which will reap benefits for the sector. For paddy, the administration is working closely with the Food Corporation of India since the past one year to ensure that farmers are able to sell their produce directly to the FCI at the minimum support price (MSP), he said.