Dehradun, May 5 (PTI) The Centre on Monday accepted the state government's proposals for developing Uttarakhand's House of Himalayas brand as an anchor institution and providing funds for setting up a centre of excellence in the state for promoting Kiwi farming and production of natural, unprocessed honey.

Union Minister for Rural Development, Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who reviewed the progress of agricultural and rural development schemes in the state with Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, State Agriculture Minister Ganesh Joshi, Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan and a host of senior officials said "some excellent ideas" emerged from the meeting.

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"One of them was a proposal moved by the chief minister for making the House of Himalayas an anchor institution. It is a commendable idea. An appropriate team of the National Rural Livelihood Mission will be sent to Uttarakhand to work out a plan and make a market available for products of the House of Himalayas nationally and internationally," Chouhan told reporters after the meeting.

House of Himalayas is a brand for unique hill products from which a large number of women self-help groups are connected.

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The NRLM team will devise collection, branding and marketing strategies to take self-help group products under the House of Himalayas to more and more people, Chouhan said.

A centre of excellence will also be set up in Uttarakhand for the production of natural, unprocessed honey and Kiwi farming that is economically viable for the hills as it is not eaten by monkeys, the Union minister said.

Funds will also be released by the Centre in a phased manner for mechanised farming in Uttarakhand, dragon fruit cultivation and skill development.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)