BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday said that the Centre's neglect of Eastern States like Orissa should be corrected during the 11th Five Year Plan period.

Speaking at the 53rd meeting of the National Development Council in its special session on Food and Agriculture in New Delhi, Mr. Patnaik said while advanced States of the country hugely benefited in irrigation and other related infrastructure in the past, the Eastern States lost out in the race.

Farm potential

Stating that various Working Groups on Agriculture observed that the Eastern region had the maximum potential for agricultural growth during the 11th Plan, Mr. Patnaik said region-specific programmes based on the requirements of different agro-climatic zones should be drawn up instead of uniform nation-wide schemes of one-size-fit-all variety.

Key area

Since irrigation was the key in agricultural growth, Mr. Patnaik suggested that Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) should have a large outlay and include not only major and medium irrigation projects but also be extended to minor and lift irrigation projects, according to an official release.

Watershed Mission

For those lands which cannot be provided with assured irrigation, the Chief Minister suggested that a massive programme should be drawn up to cover the rain fed areas on a mission mode.

Mr. Patnaik demanded that the Centre provide adequate funding to the Watershed Mission of Orissa that was set up by his government to tackle the problems of rain fed agriculture.

Seed production

The Chief Minister also suggested that seed production should be decentralised and seed villages encouraged so that adequate quantities of certified seed were available to the farmers at affordable rates.

Transport subsidy

Pointing out that nearly 70 per cent of the cultivable land of Orissa was acidic in nature, Mr. Patnaik said transport subsidy should be provided by the Centre for gypsum and other inputs used for soil amendment.

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