The Central Government is planning to extend marketing support to states who will implement the ‘One district one product’ plan in the ensuing rabi season to help growers cultivate identified products on a bigger scale & get better prices, according to officials.
A government official said, “Food products that are rich in nutritious ragi can be developed in Karnataka, mustard in Rajasthan and sunflower in Tamil Nadu. Similarly, there are many districts that have GI crops like Chilli in Guntur & Alphonso mangoes from Ratnagiri”.
Officials further told that these districts can be developed as niche markets for specific crops resulting in improvement in varieties. There are around 540 districts in India and more than 100 out of them have GI tag crops, which can gain from the plan.
An agriculture ministry official informed that “One agriculture or horticulture crop already grown in a district or having potential in all parameters such as suitable climate & capacity to raise income of farmers will be identified”.
The official also said that if the state governments motivate farmers to grow that crop then the Centre will also pitch in to give necessary market linkage by inviting processors as well as exporters of that product to source it directly from the farmers or through a FPO (farmer producer organisation). He added that the agri ministry will soon set up a committee to implement and check this scheme. The government want to help farmers in realising better prices with increased scale.
