Bhubaneswar, March 31: A total of 4,284 agriculture based industries have been set up in State since 1996 and most of them are currently operational, said Agriculture Minister Pradeep Maharathy in the State Assembly on Wednesday.
The Minister, replying to a question by Congress MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati and supplementary questions others, said the government is planning to set up a State-level haat in order to provide marketing support to farmers of interior regions of the State so that crops and vegetables produced by them would not be transported outside for sale.
Maharathy added that as many as 1,400 entrepreneurs have applied to the department to set up agro-based industries.
“In view of this, the State government will consider setting up a Agro Skill Development Centre in the State”, he stated.
Thee Minister assured the House that fish production in the State would be doubled of the present production by 2020.
“I am assuring the House that the fish production will be doubled to 20 lakh metric tonne against the State’s need of four lakh metric tonne,” he said.
