Centre move to boost horticulture in Assam

IMPHAL, March 26: The Union Ministry of Food Processing has taken up steps to translate Assam's agro-based horticulture projects into a grand success story. This was disclosed by the Union Minister of State for Food Processing and MP from Manipur, Thounaojam Chaoba during a brief interview with The Assam Tribune here today. The Union minister said, the State's horticultural products will be made value-added foodgrain and a 'horticulture mini mission' would also be initiated in phases. Besides, the Union government has also decided to set up a food processing task force to prevent food and fruits from rotting rotted due to the failure of proper preservation and storage in the country, he added. In this connection, a national convention of the Food Processing Ministers of the States will be held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, on March 26 with Union Minister of Railways and Agriculture Nitish Kumar as the chief guest. In the present scenario, the Government was losing some crores of rupees annually with 33 per cent of the fruits the country produced being frittered away in waste. To solve this problem, he has initiated many remedial measures. An awareness campaign is being prepared to spread the importance of fruit and food preservation in the minds of the general public, Chaoba elaborated.