Tripura Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister Ratan Lal Nath on Monday said that the state government plans to develop 58 more agricultural markets in the 2026-27 financial year to strengthen rural infrastructure, facilitate the sale of farm produce and increase farmers’ incomes.
Inaugurating a two-storey rural market built at a cost of Rs 4.51 crore at Gajaria Market in South Tripura district, Nath said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision was to establish India as a global grain storage hub, while the state government was working to make Tripura self-sufficient in food grain production.
He said agriculture was the mainstay of India’s economy and that the country’s overall development would remain incomplete without the growth of the agricultural sector.
“About 70 per cent of the people in our state are directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture for their livelihoods. Therefore, achieving self-reliance in agriculture means taking the state forward on the path of self-reliance. The development of agricultural infrastructure is essential to achieve this goal,” the minister said.
Nath said Tripura had 554 agricultural markets, including 84 primary wholesale markets, of which 21 were agricultural produce markets, and 470 primary or rural markets. He said infrastructure development work had been undertaken at 204 markets between 2018-19 and 2026-27, with a total allocation of Rs 461.83 crore. Of these, 87 projects had been completed, while work on the remaining 117 was in progress.
The minister said the government was planning to take up the development of 58 additional markets during the 2026-27 financial year to improve facilities for farmers and traders. He expressed hope that the improved infrastructure would make the buying and selling of agricultural produce easier and provide better facilities for local farmers and traders.
Highlighting the scale of investment in market infrastructure, Nath said that during the five-year period from 2013 to 2017, a total of 71 market development projects had been undertaken with an allocation of around Rs 20.27 crore. He said the Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Department was implementing various schemes based on proposals for the development of primary rural markets and regulated agricultural markets.
The minister said the development of rural markets would help farmers market their produce more efficiently, strengthen the rural economy and contribute to the state's goal of self-reliance by increasing agricultural incomes.