The Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has prepared the Horticulture Cluster Development Programme (CDP), for which a meeting was held under the chairmanship of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Shri Narendra Singh Tomar for its proper implementation. Minister of State Shri Kailash Chaudhary participated virtually in the meeting. In the meeting, Shri Tomar told the concerned officials that the main objective of the government is to promote the Agriculture sector in the country and to increase the income of the farmers by giving them a reasonable price for their produce, so the interest of the farmers should be paramount in the center of any programme/scheme.
Union Minister Tomar said that the overall development of horticulture in the country would be focused with the help of the implementation of the Cluster Development Programme and it would be emphasized that the farmers should be benefited from this programme. He said that the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal, Manipur, Mizoram, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand etc. should also be included in the list of 55 clusters, identified with their focus/main crops. Tomar said that the land available with Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) affiliated institutions within the identified clusters should be utilized for the implementation of this programme. He also emphasized on crop diversification and linking this ambitious programme with the market for produce sale and capacity building.
