Phase 2 of Japan-funded farm project to be launched soon

Tribune News Service

Shimla, October 13

Takumi Kunitake, deputy director of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), South Asia, has assured Chief Secretary Shrikant Baldi that soon efforts would be made to launch the second phase of the crop diversification promotion project in all districts of the state for which all formalities would be completed before the completion of the first phase.

A mission team was on a state tour to study the positive results of the JICA-funded project that was launched in five districts.

They discussed the second phase for which the state Agriculture Department had submitted a Rs1,104-crore project proposal to the Japanese Government through the Central government in June.

Baldi said the project had helped in enhancing the crop production and the income of farmers had also improved considerably through vegetable cultivation. He said there was need to provide more irrigation facilities to farmers and bring more area under vegetable cultivation. He urged the JICA to approve the second phase of the project before the completion of the first stage so that the expertise of the available trained staff could be utilised in the next phase as well.

The team visited four of the five districts included under the first phase of the project — Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Kangra and Mandi — and expressed satisfaction over the project performance.