BHUBANESWAR: Minister for Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Prafulla Samal has called on the farmers to produce more exportable commodities to increase their income. Expressing concern over poor participation of farmers in the Krushak Mela organised in every district, he has urged agriculture experts to make these fairs more informative.
“We need to make these fairs more informative for farmers and agriculture specialists should come forward to explain the important aspects of farming in local language for better understanding,” he said while speaking at the concluding session of Tomato, Onion and Potato Expo and Summit organised jointly by Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and State Agriculture Department.
Development Commissioner of the State Asit Tripathy stressed on rotation farming and urged farmers to supply more raw materials beyond the local markets and tap in the nearest big markets. During the two-day expo, as many as 10 agro-firms evinced interest to invest in the agri and food sector, including the likes of Keventer Agro, Samvi Hi-Fresh Foods, Tirupati Exports, Dynamic Agri consultant.
Currently, Odisha has around 61.80 hectares of total cultivated land and 90 per cent of farming community is small and marginal farmers. The Minister noted that the budgetary outlay of agriculture and allied sectors has increased from `7,162 crore in 2013-14 to `14,930 crore during 2017-18 and various other measures have been taken to boot to promote the sector.