Aizawl, May 1 (IANS) India plans cultivation of improved variety of food grain in several states, including the northeast, to achieve its second "Green Revolution", Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said here Saturday.
"Government has taken steps to revive Indian agriculture and resolve food security by achieving the second 'Green Revolution' in Bihar, Chattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and the northeastern states," Pawar told reporters.
He said that the food stock position is comfortable but the problem of storage persists across the country.
The agriculture minister, who arrived in the northeastern mountainous state Friday on a two-day maiden visit, has also announced financial assistance under different agriculture, horticulture, diary and fishery programmes.
He announced provision of Rs.55 crore to the northeastern and Himalayan states under Wet Rice Cultivation and the Horticulture Mission.
In addition, Rs.3 crore for improving the post-harvest management of horticulture produce has also been approved.
Appreciating the Mizoram government's flagship programme - New Land Use Policy (NLUP) - Pawer said: "It is a novel approach to bring an end to the wasteful 'jhum cultivation' (slash and burn method of farming) which gives reduced production and productivity."
The Mizoram government launched the Rs.2,873 crore NLUP earlier this year to solve food scarcity by moving away from shifting cultivation to permanent farming.
Of the Rs.2,873 crore earmarked for the project, Rs.2,527 crore will come from centrally sponsored schemes.
Of the total of 206,365 agriculture dependent families in Mizoram, 120,000 families would be covered under the NLUP over a period of five years by providing them financial assistance of Rs.100,000 each family.
The tribals in the hilly terrains of Mizoram and other northeastern states have for generations been carrying out the traditional "jhum" method, which has resulted in degradation of forest land and deterioration of soil.
About the need to improve the production of rice in Mizoram, the minister said that he would send experts to study rice cultivation in the potential areas of the state bordering Myanmar and Bangladesh.