The Union Government has reportedly decided to include four new components – Hydroponics, Aquaponics, Vertical Farming, and Precision Agriculture – under the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) – a Central Sponsored Scheme (CSS) that promotes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, root and tuber crops, mushrooms, spices, flowers, aromatic plants, coconut, cashew, cocoa, and bamboo.
According to sources, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare has also begun the process of revising the MIDH operational guidelines and cost norms and the same will be released within a month. The cost norms under the MIDH may see an upward revision of 20 percent as compared to the existing rates, the sources said.
The cost norms and guidelines were last fixed in April 2014. Since then, the Centre has not revised MIDH guidelines. The Centre supports pre-production, production, post-harvest management, processing, and marketing activities under the MIDH.
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