Bhubaneswar: The 6th meeting of Agriculture Cabinet Committee held on Wednesday discussed about the Kharif 2020 preparedness.
The programme for Kharif – 2020 was made for 61.61 lakh hectares and at present 55.52 lakh hectares have been covered. Steps are being taken for ensuring smooth supply of urea and other fertilisers with the support of GoI and through rigorous monitoring and enforcement.
Farm credit amounting to Rs. 9964.47 crores have been disbursed by the financial institutions benefitting 21 lakh farmers. A total 14.08 lakh farmers have been enrolled for crop insurance coverage. Actions are being taken as per the Crop Contingent plan prepared.
Response to COVID-19 : Regarding Agricultural Package declared by Hon’ble Chief Minister-
The details of progress on implementation of Hon’ble CM Package for COVID-19 were discussed in detail. The livelihood interventions for Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment Department and Fisheries and Animal Resources Development Department are worked out where
A total 24,99,850 farmers would be benefitted with an outlay of Rs. 373.958 crores under the chief minister’s Covid-19 agricultural package. Till now, 8,15,793 farmers have been benefitted.
At present, 55,29,680 number of beneficiaries are eligible for getting KALIA assistance. It is also programmed to implement KALIA Scholarship Programme for the children of KALIA beneficiaries on a common scholarship Platform.
BALARAM (Bhoomihina Agriculturist Loan & Resources Augmentation Model), the Scheme formulated by State agriculture department in association with NABARD aims at forming 1 lakh JLGs covering 5 lakh farmers mainly share croppers in next 3 years.
The cabinet also discussed about drought proofing through farm ponds.
A total target of 5 lakh farm ponds in 5 years (2019-20 to 2023-24) has been fixed for this purpose. During 2019-20, 8900 farm ponds were completed generating 36 lakh persondays with an expenditure of Rs107 crore, under MGNREGA. During 2020-21, the target is fixed for execution of 1,03,770 farm ponds which would generate around 4.51 crore person-days with an outlay of Rs 1,038 crores.
