No new districts from Chhattisgarh are being included in the National Horticulture Mission (NHM) as this may result in thinning out of already limited resources, the Central Government has informed.
The ersthwile Chhattisgarh Government had earlier requested the Central Government to include eight districts of Chhattisgarh namely—Janjgir-Champa, Mahasamund, Dhamtari, Dantewads, Kanker, Bijapur, Narayanpur and Sukma, in the National Horticulture Mission (NHM).
On the issue of inclusion of more districts under NHM, the view of the Department is that while finalising/identifying districts for inclusion under NHM, a cluster approach for developing potential horticultural crops for ensuring backward and forwarded linkages was adopted, it stated.
The selection of the district was decided on the comparative advantage of crops based on agro climatic conditions and potential for developing marketing opportunities.
However, there is a provision under NHM scheme for setting up of infrastructure units relating to post harvest management, marketing and other project based activities in non-NHM districts, provided there is a clear linkage of the units with the horticulture produce. Apart from this, activities for development of horticulture in non-NHM districts can be carried out under other Government schemes like Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) etc, it stated.