The first meeting of the Task Force, constituted to provide recommendations to Niti Ayog on making agriculture and related fields such as animal husbandry, fishery, horticulture more profitable was held here on Saturday. This Task Force is headed by Agriculture Minister Brijmohan Agrawal, while officials of various departments are members.
In its first meeting, various points of recommendations were finalized after extensive deliberations on existing scope, circumstances and resources available in Chhattisgarh for agricultural development.
During discussion in the meeting, Agrawal suggested the first point that to address the problem of declining ground water level, deepening of small canals near villages should be done.
The action plan for this work should also include the arrangements for cleaning of these canals. likewise, rivers and bigger canal located near villages and cities should also be deepened under MNREGA, he said.
Agrawal said that Commission should chalk out such a policy, which enables selection of place for water-augmentation and conservation through remote sensing. This should include the report about possibilities of geographical changes in that place in the next 25-50 years.
Similarly, remote sensing technique should be deployed for development of infrastructure to hold waters in rivers and ponds, he said.
The Minister said that proposal for deepening and repairing of old irrigation ponds should be sent. likewise, policy for promoting cultivation of pulses-oilseeds should also be made.
He asserted that provision of pond construction in farms of area upto 5 hectares should also be included in the policy. Districts should be divided in terms of scope for horticulture, agriculture, animal husbandry, fishery etc and accordingly action plan for agricultural development should be made, he said.
Similarly, proposal for facility of loans and subsidies for livestock development and fishery should be sent to Niti Ayog. In this way, points of recommendations for provisions concerning expansion of irrigation capacity, categorization of farmers, encouraging organic farming and use of advanced technology, and other aspects of agricultural development were also finalized.
Agrawal instructed officials concerned to prepare proposals on these issues as soon as possible. Second meeting of the Task Force will be organized in June, after which a detailed proposal will be sent to Niti Ayog by June 15.