North Eastern Coconut Farmers Conference was held yesterday for the first time in the state. About 7 hundred coconut farmers of the state participated in this conference yesterday organized by Coconut Development Board. It was inaugurated by Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Ratan Lal Nath.Through the commercial production of coconut in the state, the farmers present were informed throughtechnical sessions on socio-economic development and scientific methods of coconut cultivation.
Inaugurating the North Eastern Coconut Farmers Conference, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Ratan Lal Nath said that the newly formed government will work to build Unnata Tripura, Shreshtha Tripura. He said, India ranks second after Indonesia in coconut production in the world. He also said that according to a survey, it costs about 1 lakh 15 thousand rupees to make 1 hectare of coconut plantation. But the income from it is about 4 lakh 10 thousand rupees. There is a target for production of 1 lakh 20 thousand coconut saplings under the initiative of Coconut Development Board on 22 hectares of land in Hichachara, South Tripura. Also initiatives will be taken to set up a regional coconut nursery under theinitiative of Department of Horticulture and Soil Conservation.
Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Ratan Lal Nath informed that 2 lakh 43 thousand 993 farmers were given 6,000 rupees every year under Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana. A total of 553 crore rupees have been given to the farmers. Under this scheme, the state government has taken an effort to provide financial assistance of 8 thousand rupees to the farmers instead of 6 thousand rupees. This will
cost the state government 49 crore 40 lakh rupees every year.
Speaking at the programme, Secretary of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department Apurba Roy said that currently coconut is being cultivated on about 4,700 hectares of land in the state. There is a target to bring 500 hectares of land under coconut cultivation in the next five years. He said that compared to rubber, coconut cultivation can achieve three times more profit.MLA Mailafru Mog, Chief Coconut
Development Officer of Coconut Development Board Dr. Hanumante Gora also spoke at the programme.
Director of Guwahati Regional Office of Coconut Development Board Dr. Rajat Pal gave the welcome address. Director of Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Sharadindu Das, Director of Horticulture and Soil Conservation Department Dr. Phanibhushan Jamatia, Principal of Agriculture College Dr. TK Maiti, Advisor of Horticulture Corporation Dr. AK Nandi were also present at the programme.
