The Vision Nagaland 2025, aims at addressing this entire gamut of issues to make Nagaland a prosperous State surplus in food production by 2025. The vision 2025 also emphasizes on utilizing the water resources of the State towards sustainable agriculture by means of rain water harvesting and creating irrigation potential. In combination of all these measures, the State of Nagaland can invariably be brought to the status of a state surplus in food production by the year 2025, by adopting the following measures: –

1. Capacity building of farmers as well as extension personnel.
2. Use of quality seeds, fertilizers and other agro-chemicals and make them available to the door step of the farmers.
3. Establishing Agro Service Centres in each block by imparting training to the educated unemployed youth for providing easy access of farm mechanization, and other services to the farming communities.
4. Construction of all-weather roads to connect production centres to markets.
5. Creation of commodity specific production zones for easy marketing of perishable horticultural commodities by establishing agricultural market hubs with internet facilities.
6. Encouraging development of agri-preneur as organic producer of high value fruits and vegetables to attract the educated youth for self-employment through agriculture.
7. Ensuring easy availability of farm credit.
8. Construction of rural warehouses and cold storages.
9. Entrepreneur development for establishment of fruits and vegetables processing industries with a purpose of value addition.
10. Encouraging maximum possible settled cultivation (as terrace cultivation) of suitable agri-horti crops, such as rain fed cereals, fodders, vegetables and fruit crops etc. in hilly terrains in areas traditionally under Jhum. (shifting cultivation)
11. Adopting steps to increase piggery, goatery, cattle rearing, poultry, duckery, etc. for maximizing meat production through breed improvement.
12. Increasing the availability of chicks of layers and broiler birds in the state by establishing hatchery units.
13. Increasing commercial cattle rearing for the development of dairy sector.
14. Utilizing available water bodies and low-lying areas for fish production.
15. Assured availability of fish seed with onset of fish production season.

Immediate Action Points to strengthen Food Grain Security

• Significantly higher investments are needed in modern bulk handling storage of basic food grains, preferably under the private sector or under the PPP mode. The current storage capacity with state agencies is much lower than the stocks that they often carry, leading to large wastages (8-10 per cent) reassessment of the optional level of storage of food grains in the wake of increasing volatility needs to be taken up on a high priority.
• Special focus groups including reputable agri-business leaders on eastern India need to be set to harness ground water to help raise rice, wheat, and maize yields with a combination of incentives and infrastructure investments. Accelerating Agri- growth through the High value segment (Horticulture, Livestock, and Fisheries)
• Incentivize the State to ensure that APMC is reformed and notified for buying from farmers; encouraging ‘Clustering’ of farmers in groups through NGOs, CGOs, SHGs, be it in the form of cooperatives, farmers clubs, or contract farming.
• Promote a model land lease act to free up the lease market.
• Encourage NABARD to refinance SHGs at a 7per cent interest rate with the condition that they will not charge more than 11 per cent from the farmer.
• Encourage organized logistic players, processors, and modern retailers (both domestic and foreign) by freeing them from any restrictions and supporting them to form links directly with cluster of farmers.
• Rationalize taxes and commissions by abolishing them on fresh produce and replacing them by taxes only on value addition.

Aims of the Vision 2025: Food for All by 2025

Objectives of the Vision 2025

• By increasing production and productivity in a sustainable way.
• Employment generation by establishing agro-based food product and animal feed product industries, so as to increase the per capita income of the farmers and thus achieve food security as a whole.
• Attract educated youth toward agricultural activities by utilizing the potential for earning through value addition both for domestic and export markets.
• Protect existing forest cover to counter Global Warming by means of awareness generation programmes, and cultivation of fast-growing species of trees to meet the requirement of fuel and fodder. To meet the requirement of food for the growing population of the State, the following steps should be taken:

Infrastructure Development:

• Establishment of rural markets back linked with marketing chains.
• Construction of warehouses and cold storage facilities
• Development of seed farms and nurseries.
• Development of soil testing laboratories.
• Development of quality control laboratories.

Technology generation and dissemination:

• Strengthening of research on improved seed and livestock. (State Agricultural University and Research Centre will be entrusted with the task)
• Revitalizing the extension machinery through capacity building for dissemination of the modern production technology. New extension policy of Public Private Partnership (PPP) will be involved to disseminate the modern technology to the farmers.
• Organic production of crop and animal husbandry products for export.
• Making available the farm credit to the farmers for commercialization.
• Crop insurance to provide support in case of any loss due to adversity.
• Watershed development and emphasis on rain fed agriculture for meeting the food security, particularly in the area under Jhum cultivation.