West Bengal farm minister wants co-ordination cell

The West Bengal state agriculture marketing ministry has submitted a proposal to Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the chief minister of the state, for setting up a committee to co-ordinate between all the agriculture-related departments.

The state government has three agriculture related departments "" agriculture, agriculture marketing and food processing.

The proposal comes partly in response to the blueprint submitted by Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and the Mukesh Ambani-led conglomerate indicating huge investments in the procurement and retailing of farm products in Bengal.

The West Bengal minister for agriculture marketing, Mortoza Hossain, said that he had forwarded the proposal to CM's office and two other departments.

"Many big investments are coming into the sector and so we need some kind of integration and co-ordination among these departments," he said.

The minister was talking on the sidelines of a seminar on the prospects of increasing consumption of potato, organised by West Bengal Cold Storage Association.

He indicated that the committee would have representatives from all the departments and would also include agriculture experts.

"We may appoint a consultant for this but nothing has been finalised as yet," he added.

Procurement of vegetables in a big way from farmers in the state is on the agenda of the retail business arm of Reliance.

"The Reliance plan involves all the agriculture related departments," the minister added.

The state agriculture secretary was present when Reliance representative met state chief secretary Amit Kiran Dev earlier this month.

Earlier, speaking at the seminar, he stressed the need for developing multipurpose cold storages in the state.

"We need to do this to strengthen food processing industry here," he added.