To increase vegetables production in the state, the Odisha Government has decided to set up 150 new cold storages under PPP mode by 2019.
The decision in this regard was taken at a meeting presided over by the Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik, where he was reviewing the performance of the Agriculture Department.
The Chief Minister will review the progress made in this regard every two months.
It was decided to increase the farm output every year using advanced methods of cultivation, which currently stands at nine lakh tonnes of vegetables from 5,000 hectares of land.
The State Government has appointed dealers in 4,346 gram panchayats for providing seeds, fertilisers and pesticides to farmers, while efforts are on to appoint dealers in the remaining gram panchayats.
Naveen Patnaik has also asked the Agriculture Department to complete the construction of one concrete paddy drying yard for every 5,000 population by 2017 in coordination with the Cooperation, Revenue and Panchayati Raj departments.
It was also decided to fill up 1,017 vacant posts of agricultural technical extension officers by the end of 2015.