In a bid to raise vegetable production in the state, Odisha government has decided to set up 150 new cold storages under PPP mode by 2019.
The decision in this regard was taken at a meeting presided over by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik where he was reviewing performance of the Agriculture Department.
The chief minister will review the progress made in this regard every two months.
It was decided to increase farm output every year using advanced methods of cultivation, which currently stands at nine lakh tonnes of vegetables from 5,000 hectares of land.
The state government has appointed dealers in 4,346 gram panchayats for providing seeds, fertiliser and pesticides to farmers, while efforts are on to appoint dealers in the remaining gram panchayats.
The chief minister asked the Agriculture Department to complete construction of one concrete paddy drying yard for every 5,000 population by 2017 in coordination with Cooperation, Revenue and Panchayati Raj departments.
The meeting also decided to fill up 1,017 vacant posts of agricultural technical extension officers by the end of 2015.
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Prasanta Patnaik