Upasi has hailed the announcement of launching Atmanirbhar Clean Plant Programme to boost availability of disease-free, quality planting material for high value horticultural crops.
This would give fillip to the intercropping of such high value crops in the plantation sector, said Jeffry Rebello, president.
The planters body has been advocating the need to shift to poly-culture by intercropping high value horticultural crops in the plantation sector to generate more income per unit area, he said.
The Agriculture Accelerator Fund to be set-up is also welcome move as it is devised to encourage agri start-ups by young entrepreneurs in rural areas. It is aimed at bringing innovative and affordable solutions for challenges faced by farmers, modern technologies to transform agricultural practices, and increase productivity and profitability.
According to Rebello, the allocation of funds to Commodity Boards were retained more or less at the same level, except for marginal increase to Tea Board with ₹3.08 crore in the BE 2023-24 and ₹2 crore in RE 2022-23 for Coffee Board.