Nagaland seeks to focus on agriculture to eradicate poverty by 2030

The Nagaland government has planned to explore various financial sources, including CSR funds, and will focus on skill development and employment generation through farming and allied sectors to eradicate poverty by 2030, an official said Wednesday.

According to a vision document, the Neiphiu Rio government will concentrate on externally aided projects, public-private partnership initiatives and negotiated loans from funding agencies to achieve the poverty elimination goal, he said.

During the day, Rio held a meeting with officials of various departments on the production and export of local commodities for the economic upliftment of the state, the official said.

The state government has recently unveiled "Nagaland SDG Vision 2030 – Leaving no one behind" which provides short, medium and long term strategies to achieve 17 specific goals, including eradication of poverty.

An estimated 18.88 per cent of people are living below the poverty line in Nagaland.

The document proposed purposeful engagement of various stakeholders such as universities, financial institutions, farmer organisations and community-based entities to achieve the target.

"It suggested that financial sources, such as corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds, externally aided projects, public-private partnership initiatives, negotiated loans from funding agencies should be explored in addition to regular missions and programmes launched by the government," the official said.

Other strategies proposed for alleviation of poverty in the state include employment generation through the agricultural and allied sectors, skill development, strengthening of the existing industrial base and village development boards, he said.

Notably, Nagaland is an agrarian state with about 60 per cent of its population engaged in agriculture and allied activities, and 71.14 per cent of its residents live in villages.

The document also suggested the government to provide easy access to food, health, education, housing and services such as road connectivity, IT infrastructure and drinking water. It also identified some of the challenges such as limited financing and banking facilities, high level of unemployment and unavailability of basic amenities to achieve the target.

The report was prepared based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Altogether, 17 specific goals were set for 2030, which include no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, affordable energy, economic growth, and industry, innovation and infrastructure.