Itanagar, May 17 (UNI) Arunachal Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein on Tuesday launched the 'Integrated Tribal Development Project' for Lohit district under Tribal Development Fund supported by NABARD, Itanagar Regional Office, at Medo under Wakro circle in the district.
The intervention will directly benefit 200 tribal families by enhancing their livelihood through fish farming, horticulture and vegetable cultivation as an alternative means of livelihood and will be implemented in Tezu, Wakro and Sunpura blocks of Lohit district, official sources said.
Speaking on the occasion, the Deputy Chief Minister said that NABARD was a major partner in the development of the State and expressed his expectations that such kind of integrated approach may be implemented through more projects in a convergence mode with the participation of the State Government.
He urged the beneficiaries to adopt ways to make the project sustainable in order to achieve the objective of self-reliance, as envisaged under 'Atma Nirbhar Arunachal'.
He further encouraged them to uphold the dignity of labour and to work with determination until the desired result was achieved while emphasizing more cluster farming and contract farming with a buy-back policy.
NABARD General Manager Partho Saha informed that the project envisages orchard based livelihood to the farmers through horticulture plantation and maintenance, soil and moisture conservation, water resource development, training and capacity building of farmers, women development, health and sanitation, etc.
He assured to provide more such interventions in the state with the support of the state machinery depending upon the interest and enthusiasm of the local farmers.
The NABARD-back project, to be implemented by 'Kalong-Kapili', will benefit 200 families from Wakro, Sunpura and Tezu blocks of the district and each beneficiary will be provided with 1000 fish seeds, 100 areca nut, 50 banana and 20 Assam lemon saplings.
Tezu MLA Karikho Kri urged the farmers to think beyond the subsistence level and take advantage of the training and hand-holding provided under the project to fulfil the true potential. Lohit Deputy Commissioner Marge Sora also shared his experience on how agri-preneurship could help realise their dreams in life.
District Agriculture Officer Nyokliam Sumnyan and NABARD District Development Manager (DDM) Nitya Mili and Kalong-Kapili director Jyotish Talukdar also spoke.
The Dy CM also distributed fish seeds, areca nut and Assam lemon saplings to the beneficiaries on the occasion.