Many young men have taken to farming in Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon district after seeing the farmer friendly schemes of the government.
The ambitious Rajiv Gandhi Kisan Nyay Yojana is bringing economic prosperity to the farmers in the district. It has boosted the income of farmers and improved their standard of living.
An official communiqué on Tuesday said that under the Rajiv Gandhi Kisan Nyay Yojana, an input subsidy of Rs 9,000 per acre is given for all crops and Rs 10,000 per acre for alternative crops instead of paddy.
Farmers producing millets like kodo, kutki and ragi also get benefits.
An input subsidy amount of Rs 10,000 per acre is being given for cultivation of kodo, kutki sugarcane, arhar, maize, soybean, pulses, oilseeds, aromatic paddy, other fortified paddy, banana and papaya or tree plantation instead of growing paddy, it said.
Farmers who opt for tree plantation instead of paddy cultivation will get input subsidy for three years.
Under the Yojana, for the Kharif year 2021, an amount of Rs 234,90,25,000 was paid to 1,13,343 farmers in three installments.
This has proved to be of great help to farmers. They now buy advanced seeds, fertilizers and pesticides easily besides adopting advanced scientific techniques for higher yield.
The irrigation area in the district has increased by 15,858 hectares in four years through Shakambhari, Kisan Samridhi, Uthla Nalkoop and check dam construction schemes. There has been an increase of 3,274 hectares in the area under minor cereal crops. Farmers have started using tractors and modern agricultural machinery for farming, leading to increasing production and profits.
In the district, a total of 109 tractors and 250 different types of modern agricultural machinery have been distributed to farmers at subsidized rates, the communiqué added.