Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment Minister Dr. Arun Kumar Sahoo, inaugurated a pilot project
Bhubaneswar (Kalinga Voice) :“Crop Diversification Programme in Mega Lift Irrigation Projects” is going to be implemented on pilot basis from Kharif 2021-22 through the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Empowerment, Government of Odisha under the dynamic leadership and guidance of our Hon’ble Chief Minister, Sri Naveen Pattanaik.The primary objective of this programme is to diversify from traditional cultivation of paddy to other non-paddy crops such as pulses, oil seeds, fibers and horticultural crops in upland/medium land duringKharif season and improving soil health through promotion of crops with greater biomass and less chemical input requirement.Besides, the programme will involve integration with livestock and fisheries,cluster based promotion of post-harvest operation, primary processing, value addition and marketing through community based organisations (CBOs) like FPOs/WSHGs/PaniPanchayats and agri-entrepreneurfor enhancing income of farmers, creating awareness, capacity building and community mobilization of farmers on sustainability of cropping pattern and diet diversification, inclusion of non-paddy grains in different government schemes such as ICDS, MDM, PDS and SC / ST Welfare hostels.
In the first phase, the programme will be implemented in 4 districts i.e. Kalahandi, Malkanagiri, Nabarangpur and Koraput covering 101villages of 27 GPs in 7 blocks in an area of 12207 hector of the ayacut of 18 nosMega Lift Irrigation Projectsin cluster approach. It is programmed to promote 3343 hectares of pulses, 3745 ha of cotton, 928 ha of oilseeds, 2451 ha of maize, 1322 ha of millets and 418 ha of vegetables during the current Kharifseason with an estimated expenditure of Rs. 16.73Corers.
It is decided to provide financial incentives to farmers for adoption of crop diversification to non-paddy crops in the ayacuts of MLIPsconsecutively for three years.Approximately,16000 farm familieswill be benefited under this programme.36 community basedorganisationswill get involved in different activities like bio-input production, post-harvest operations, processing, value addition, cluster level aggregation and marketing. Capacity building programmeswill be organized for the farmers.Massive awareness campaign /road show / miking& hoardings on benefits of diversifying to non-paddy crops, up-keeping soil health, diet diversification and enhancing water use efficiency will be taken up for successful and meaningful implementation of the pilot project.
Secondly, different need based inputs like micronutrients, bio-fertilizers; pesticides etc.are being supplied to the farmers under various central sector and state plan schemes on subsidy. As a sequel to MO SARKAR initiatives an online input management system ‘DBT in need based input’will be functional from2021-22 in the State for transfer of subsidy amount directly to the farmers account. AMobile app & web application has been developed through which the farmers will purchase the inputs from the dealer and the subsidy due will be released to the beneficiary account through DBT.
Today Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment, Fisheries & Animal Resource Development and Higher Education Minister Dr. Arun Kumar Sahoo, inaugurated a pilot project on Crop Diversification Programme in Mega Lift Irrigation Projects and DBT inputodisha portal for transfer of subsidy amount to the account of beneficiary farmers. On this occasion,Shri Raj Kumar Sharma, IAS,Agriculture Production Commissioner-cum-Addl. Chief Secretary; Smt. AnuGarg, IAS, Principal Secretary to Govt. Department of Water Resources; Sri Suresh Kumar Vashishth, IAS, Commissioner-cum-Secretary to Govt., Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Empowerment; Vice Chancellor, OUAT; Commissioner-cum-Secretary to Govt., F&ARD Department and Director of Agriculture & Food Production, Odisha were also present.
