The Hindu : New Delhi News : Major plans for State’s farm sector

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Wednesday, Nov 14, 2007
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New Delhi

Major plans for State’s farm sector

Special Correspondent

Rs.4,800 crore for coconut sector; Rs.30 crore each for cashew and pepper

Plans announced after Mullakkara Ratnakaran held talks with Jairam Ramesh in New Delhi on Tuesday.

NEW DELHI: The Union Commerce Ministry has finalised a Rs.4,800-crore plan for the replantation and rejuvenation of coconut groves over the next 10 years. The plan will be put up for Cabinet clearance in the next couple of weeks.

This was disclosed by Union Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh after a meeting with Kerala Agriculture Minister Mullakkara Ratnakaran here on Tuesday.

Briefing mediapersons, he said 90 per cent of the allocation would go to Kerala as four lakh hectares of the 4.6 lakh hectares that would be brought under replantation and rejuvenation lay in the State.

The scheme involves a small contribution from the State government and Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac has already agreed to set aside the required amount. It will be in the vicinity of 10 per cent.

The Union Ministry has also cleared a proposal submitted by the State government for replantation of cashew crop. The Centre has decided to allocate Rs.30 crore for the programme cleared under the National Horticulture Mission. A sum of Rs.7 crore will be released this fiscal for replanting in 2,000 hectares. The following year another 3,000 hectares will be replanted. And, 5,000 hectares will be replanted every year for the next three years.

A similar programme for replantation of pepper has been cleared, again under the National Horticulture Mission. This entails replantation of two lakh hectares over the next 10 years. The scheme will get under way this fiscal with replantation of 20,000 hectares for which the Centre has sanctioned Rs.30 crore.

Asked why the ban on palm oil was applicable only to the Kochi port and not to other ports, he said: “Kerala government had asked for a ban on import of palm oil from the Kochi port only and so we accepted that demand.”

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