The Centre on Wednesday set an ambitious target of directly procuring 12 lakh tonnes of apples from the orchard in Jammu & Kashmir during the 2020-21 season.
A similar initiative announced last year after the reading down of Article 370 of the Constitution, that granted special status to J&K and bifurcating the state into two Union Territories, had led to the procurement of nearly 8,000 tonnes of apples at a cost of Rs 70.45 crore.
The Union Cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the extension of the Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) for apple procurement in J&K for the current season on the same terms and condition as last season 2019-20, an official statement said.
National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation has also been allowed to use the government guarantee of Rs 2,500 crore for this operation. About 12 lakh tonnes of apple can be procured under this scheme directly from apple growers. The payment will be made through DBT into their bank account, it added.
(Published 21 October 2020, 17:34 IST)
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