NPC to evaluate work of horticulture mission

The National Productivity Council (NPC), an autonomous body under the Societies Registration Act, 1958, will evaluate the performance of the National Horticulture Mission (NHM) programmes in Punjab and Haryana and formulate recommendations for the future plan of action.

The study is expected to be completed in the next two months and the report will be submitted to the Centre. The NHM has proposed to undertake a mid-term evaluation study (MTE) of its schemes to evaluate the performance of programme implementation.

Earlier, the department of agriculture had launched a Central scheme of the NHM during the 10th Plan with effect from 2005-06 for the development of the horticulture sector.

All the states and union territories are covered under the mission, except the eight north-eastern states, including Sikkim, and the states of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal, which are covered under the technology mission for development of horticulture.

Further, the scheme has been approved 'in principle' for implementation up to the end of the 11th Five-Year Plan. An amount of Rs 630 crore was provided during 2005-06 for implementing the NHM programmes in 18 states. Further, an amount of Rs 1,000 crore was provided for implementation of the scheme during 2006-07 while the outlay for the scheme during 2007-08 is Rs 1,150 crore.

According to sources in the NPC, the scope of the evaluation includes analysing the physical and financial achievements vis-a-vis the targets and outlay during the last two years of the 10th Plan like planting material-nursery, rehabilitation of existing tissue culture lab units, vegetable seed production and seed infrastructure, creation of water resources, promotion of organic farming, post-harvest management and marketing infrastructure.

He added that in order to undertake the mid-term evaluation of the NHM schemes, various stakeholders such as farmers, agriculture department, scientists, growers' association, marketing boards, self-help groups and non-govermental organisations would be interviewed. The primary data would be elicited through intensive field surveys, participatory discussions and personal interviews.

The study will also involve collection of secondary data in respect of various objectives of the scheme. It is expected that the study will come out with the detailed analysis of the strength and weakness of various scheme components and the performance level and development of work in all the states for affecting the future plan of action.