Nagaland govt focuses on agriculture to revive economy

The Nagaland government, which is

facing a financial crunch in the wake of the lockdown, has focused on strengthening the agriculture and allied sectors to revive the state's economy, a minister said.

The government will hold a meeting with the representatives of the farming community and entrepreneurs on Friday to discuss various issues to improve these sectors, state planning and coordination minister Neiba Kronu said.

He said the government led by Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio is looking to become self-reliant in terms of agricultural production and reduce its dependence on the Centre and other states.

"The present situation arising out of the COVID-19 outbreak has given us a lesson that we should take farming more seriously to become self-reliant in the food sector as the state has been facing a financial crunch," Kronu said on Wednesday.

 

He said the state has conducive climatic conditions and fertile land to help the agricultural sector grow.

Accepting that the performance of the agriculture and allied sectors was below par in the past, he said, "Now, we have to change the strategy and all have to be active."

He also said that the government is working on a strategy to boost the veterinary and animal husbandry sector in the state.

Speaking on the Nagaland people stranded in different parts of the country due to the lockdown, he said the state government does not encourage them to come back.

At present, the government has a list of around 23,000 people including patients, students and workers, stuck in different parts of the country.

The minister said the government is taking initiatives to make the BSL-3 lab functional for testing samples of people with coronavirus-like symptoms, though no COVID-19 case has been reported in the state.

Home department's principal secretary Abhijit Sinha said the inter-district movement of stranded people would be allowed from Thursday till Saturday.